The Butterfly Effect
by dobroy-utro
Summary: Ivan lives, and so the butterfly's wings flap; Dimitri is a faithful guardian to his friend and is not there to save Rose from getting expelled. Under her father's wing, she vows to become so great a guardian that the Moroi have no choice but to make her Lissa's guardian one day. She's off to study St Basil's Academy in Russia; evidently they think they can whip anyone into shape.
1. Chapter 1

I felt her fear before I heard her screams.

The nightmare, snaking out to me, pulled me from my own sleep. It was all too familiar to me: the squeal of twisting metal, heat brushing her skin, the smells of iron and smoke. It was suffocating - images that had become part of my own intrinsic memory, though I barely remembered the moments myself.

I jolted out of bed, dark hair slick against my forehead. I had to pull the long strands away from where they wrapped, tangled around my neck and constricting my already labored breathing.

Lissa thrashed in her bed, caught in a whimper. I felt like lighting, flashing the distance between our beds for the million time, grabbing ahold of her shoulder.

"Liss," I begged, shaking her. "Liss, you have to wake up."

She let out a choked gasp. "Andre," she bemoaned. "Are you-"

"You aren't there anymore. You're here, with me. Just me," I corrected myself, moving myself under her as I felt her shaking lessen. "Please, just wake up."

Her eyes fluttered where her head was laid in my lap, breathing slowing as I ran my hand through her hair. Sleep loosened its grip on her and she desperately opened her eyes, straining to keep them open. As often as I woke her from these nightmares, I knew that she was afraid to close her eyes again afterwards, afraid that the images would be there waiting, carved into her eyelids.

"It's okay," I whispered to her, leaning forward to turn on the lamp, not that we needed much of its dim light with our eyesight. "Everything's okay. We aren't there."

Our housemate's cat, Oscar, crept into the room, leaping onto the bed beside Lissa. His eyes regarded me warily, as he always did – something about dhampirs set most animals off. She sat up, scooping him into his arms and swiveling until she sat cross-legged next to me, our arms barely brushing.

The glow of the lamp allowed me to see her face better, and I jolted to realization

"When did we last do a feeding?" Even in the low lighting, I could see how pale she was, paler than her natural fairness. With all our tests in school this week occupying my mind, I couldn't remember the last time she had taken blood. No wonder the nightmare had crept in – she looked exhausted beyond the lack of sleep - they always came more frequently in times of stress. "It's been, what three days? Why didn't you remind me?"

She shrugged, focused on Oscar in her lap. "We both had so much on our plate this week… I didn't want to—"

"Don't even say that," I interrupted, bumping into her shoulder in jest as I shifted into a more available position, trying to make light of the situation. Oscar leapt from her lap at my proximity, freeing her hands from their previous work scratching him. "Okay, let's do this."

"Rose, I don't—"

"Come on, " I almost teased, hushing her as I tossed my hair behind my shoulder. "It'll make you feel better."

She couldn't deny it. Once she saw my neck, the offer overwhelmed her protests. The hunger flashed in her eyes, her lips parting to expose the fangs Moroi naturally kept hidden, especially while living among humans, as we did.

During each of our feedings, especially the early ones, her fangs had struck me as out of place among the otherwise angel-like qualities of her face. Now, however, I locked into them with fervent focus, my heart racing in anticipation as they swarmed closer to my tender skin. I hated feeling this way, though I knew that the bliss of the bite would wash away any lingering fear that the feeling in my heart had turned to… well, desperation.

Her fangs pinched into me and I bit down a cry, hoping not to rouse our housemates beyond what they may have heard of Lissa's nightmare. The pain disappeared as soon as it came, and my mouth tumbled open into a sigh as a wave of deep, crimson bliss set my body alight. The high was unlike any other I had experienced – a weight of comfort and pleasure all in one, blanketing me in hope and unadulterated elation. I was floating, lost in the chemicals intrinsic to a Moroi's saliva, and I seemed to exist beyond my own body.

All too quickly, it was gone.

Lissa made clean work of it, running her thumb across her lips as she shoved a pillow behind me. "Are you okay, Rose?"

"Uh," I struggled to grasp the words, still riding the high's memories, and dizzy from the blood loss. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some sleep."

She was up in a heartbeat, pale jade eyes not leaving my own brown ones. "I'm going to grab you some electrolytes."

Though the real bliss of a Moroi bite was gone as soon as their lips left your skin, the memories felt tangible in my veins. I glanced over to Oscar where he sat on the windowsill and sighed, "If only you—" I couldn't form words yet, but I was awake enough to realize that the cat was laser-focused, watching something outside the way he watched, well, me.

Gingerly, I rose from the bed, smile wavering. Black dots flitted across my vision. I grabbed onto Lissa's nightstand, waiting for them to dissipate before peering into the darkness of night.

At three in the morning, our small college town was mostly settled asleep. Across the street, a flickering lamppost illuminated the only sign of life beyond our own home – a man gazing back into my own eyes.

I didn't need to know who the man was to know exactly why he was here. Oscar's reaction to him, wary and on edge, was a mirror to how he acted around me and a sharp contrast to the loving, docile kitten most people experienced him to be.

Adrenaline coursed through me as I fell out of sight of the window, pressing myself further into the room and grabbing for the jeans I had haphazardly thrown on the floor last night. In another second, I had one arm shoved in my coat, the other occupied shoving both Lissa and I's wallets in our emergency backpack – which we saved for moments like this.

I stumbled into the kitchen, where Lissa stood considering all the options in the pantry and our housemate, Jeremy, sat at the table, eyes deep in his book. I shoved Lissa's jacket into her arms, reaching to open and immediately chug the Gatorade that was placed next to her on the counter, presumably pulled out for me.

"Rose, you shouldn't -"

It seemed interrupting her was my pattern for the night. "Get some shoes on. We have to go Now."

She froze, registering my words before folding herself into the jacket and shoving her feet into the nearest pair of shoes. "You're sure?"

I nodded, glancing over to our ever-curious roommate. "What's wrong?" he asked.

The thought was easy. "Liss. Get his keys."

Without hesitating, she turned to him, trust pouring into the bond. She knew when to listen to me – I had already gotten us this far despite the relentless efforts of the world we'd escaped from.

"What are you talking about?" Jeremy was still baffled, glancing between us nervously until Lissa caught his eyes, holding them while she smiled warmly. I could feel the compulsion well up inside of her, a dim golden pulse.

"We need to take your car," she spoke, almost soothingly. "Can you get me your keys?"

His face slackened and I bit my lip. While few Moroi had such strong control over compulsion as Lissa, we had been taught our whole lives that using even what little you had of it was expressly immoral. As I stared at Jeremy, his body slack like a rag doll as he reached into his pocket and handed over his keychain, I understood why.

Lissa thanked him, unnecessarily. "Where is it parked?"

He gave us simple, clear instructions to his car. Four blocks away.

"Thank you, " she repeated, sliding the keys into my hands without breaking their eye contact. "We're going to leave but when we do, forget you ever saw us tonight. You studied all night."

Weak to her control, he nodded, gazing adoringly at her. The human lack of resistance was one of the reasons it was so easy to get a place in this townhouse to begin with.

"Let's go, Liss."

Outside, the rush of crisp air did little to help the woozy feeling in my head. A lingering effect of the bite, I stumbled every few steps. Lissa, already the slower one in our pair, did her best to keep me upright and guide me in the path I had nearly already forgotten.

Anxiety rippled between us, "Rose… what are we going to do if- if they catch us?"

"I won't let them," I said fiercely, feeling stronger every second, even if it was just psychosomatic. "They've found us before, but they didn't catch us then and they won't get us now. We'll drive to the train station. Get the first tickets out. Exit halfway to the destination and catch another. They'll lose the trail, we'll be fine."

That's how it had been for two years. We skipped from small town to small town, just under everyone's noses, trading schools and just trying to graduate. With one more year left, it seemed as if we were in the home stretch. Maybe this next destination could finally be the last.

We surged forward, but Lissa's ears perked up, sharper senses than my own. "Do you hear that?"

With only a short delay, I picked up on the footsteps, moving fast. We were only halfway to the car.

"Liss," I started, picking up my pace. "We have to run."

"You can't, Rose."

"Just _run._"

I pushed all my energy and willpower into the burst – my body still slow to the takeoff, working through the blood loss and the endorphins of her bite. Regardless, I urged my muscles to stop protesting, unsure if I was dragging Lissa or if she was the one leading me.

My eyes locked onto Jeremy's car ahead of us, just as the footfalls of our pursuers drew closer. We were so close –

So close, and a man stepped directly into our path. I skidded to a stop and jerked Lissa behind me, stopping her with my superior reflexes. Here he was. The man I had seen underneath the lamppost.

He was older than us, mid-twenties if the lighting was right. Stocky. He was built like, well, the Hulk. Around my height, maybe a hair shorter, and packing muscles that seemed to go above and beyond the usual dhampir standard.

I almost laughed.

But more people encircled us. Maybe ten or more guardians, more than enough for any royal event or teaching roster.

I backed further from the man who approached us, pulling Lissa tightly to myself. It had been a while since I had fought, just as long as we had been away, but I knew that, if it came down to it, I would go down swinging for my charge.

"Princess –"

"Don't talk to her," I growled, lashing out.

I was a fool. Even with full control of my body, I would have been a fool. Stepping forward to take on the real-life hulk was a mistake from the get-go. However, novice training necessitated that I focus on the biggest target outright – _neutralize the greatest enemy. _And this guy, stepping towards us, had hit a nerve.

The kick I jutted out towards him probably hurt me more than it did him, considering he brushed it aside like nothing. He likely hadn't meant to knock me off my feet completely, but my lack of practice coupled with my endorphin-induced lack of response time made me feel like ragdoll Jeremy, minutes that seemed like hours ago.

He caught my arm as I headed for the curb, saving me from a tough fall.

As I steadied myself, jerking away from him, the hair covering my neck slipped away. I saw his brows lift at the recognition in his eyes. It didn't take a genius to see what he saw – _a blood whore_.

I shifted my hair back over the sticky wound, backing into Lissa.

Her hand caught mine and she squeezed, strong emotions flaring up in the bond.

_Decisiveness_ carried the lot.

_Rose_, I heard her clearly through the bond. _It's over. It's time. _

If only she could have known the consequences.


	2. Chapter 2

Alexei Pavlov was a self-righteous prick.

As soon as Lissa had convinced me to stand down, Guardian Mega-Hulk had donned a sardonic smile, as if he knew every move I'd ever planned on making. As soon as we'd been herded onto the aircraft, he had moved to separate Lissa and I, "lest we try to form an escape plan". Never mind the fact that we had been.

Uncharacteristically, I chose to stay quiet the entire trip. The guardians around us were more than happy not to test my resolve, leaving me alone for the majority of the flight.

For that, I was thankful. It left more time to stew in my own raging emotions as I considered that possible dangers that lay in wait for us at the academy.

Once the plane landed, we were quickly shuffled into separate SUVS, each of us encircled by guardians. It seemed like over kill, but this was, of course, the moment we had figured would be our chance of escape. Alexei flashed that smirk at me as if to say he knew as much. There was no use in moving forward with a half baked plan.

The highway from the airport had given way to the academy's thickly wooded driveway which had in turn given way to its wrought iron fencing and imposing gothic architecture. With the setting sun tucked behind the surrounding mountains, signaling the start of the vampiric day, the stone was washed in pink and orange. I had forgotten how beautiful the school could be.

Beautiful and filled with unknown dangers.

We exited the vehicles and I addressed Guardian Pavlov for the first concrete time since he had struck me off my feet this morning.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?"

Whether or not he was going to respond to me didn't matter. I was quick to recognize exactly which doors they were leading us to, both confirming the answer to my question and causing a tinge of bitterness creep into me. It may have been a few years since I had been at the academy, but this route was branded into my mind a while ago.

"Is there a reason you had to take this way?" I asked, louder this time.

No one attempted to answer me as they opened the doors and a sea of eyes slowly flickered our way.

They had lead us straight into the commons. During breakfast.

I used the half-second of reprieve to square my shoulders, sling on a haughty smile, and try to focus anywhere except for the sea of novices and Moroi faces that burned through us now. A glimpse into Lissa's feelings told me she was doing the same – though with less proudness and more attention to her own feet.

Headmistress Kirova's office stood at the end of a long hallway that ran perpendicular to the commons. Our fellow students probably could have watched us all the way to the end of the hallway, and it was likely they did.

We were shuffled into her office, the heavy wooden door slamming to shut us in, cutting off any whispers that had risen behind us. Of our escort, only Alberta, who was in charge of guardian operations at the school, and Alexei stayed. They took their traditional places along the wall, silent and seeming to take in everything and nothing at once.

Kirova turned towards us, eyes blazing. I could see the wheels turning in them, preparing to unleash a speech she had no doubt been perfecting over the past several years since we had escaped, one that was sure to win awards.

Despite Kirova's relatively young age for a Moroi – whose longevity exceeded humans and guardians by several years – I had loosely held onto some hope that she had croaked in the time we were away. Evidently that was too much to ask.

A gentle voice spoke before she could.

"Vasilisa."

We had swept into the room without even seeing him, something I could nearly scream at myself for missing. Some future guardian I was.

Prince Victor Dashkov reached out from a nearby chair, grabbing onto a cane which he used to push himself up and out of it.

"Uncle," she gasped, throwing her arms around him, careful not to knock him off balance. I could feel her empathy flowing into me, a warm golden glow bubbling to the surface. If only she could help him.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you are safe, Vasilisa." He patted her back, straightening himself and turned to me. "You too, Rose."

I thought about reaching out to grasp his hand, not knowing how else to approach him, but settled for a nod from where I stood. It seemed as though he would crumble in my grasp. My heart broke. Once a stately individual that our society could have championed as king, Victor was afflicted by a rare Moroi condition that was causing him a quick and withering decline.

His daughter, Natalie, was in our grade at St. Vladimir's, painfully his shadow. He had moved into guest housing on campus just after the car accident, dedicating his limited time to being around Natalie as well as to looking over Lissa. Once a close confidant of the family, his familiarity and proximity had soothed Lissa since her loss.

After a few more moments, Kirova cleared her throat, making it more than clear that the pleasantries had overstayed their welcome.

Her lecture for Lissa didn't disappoint. With my own intimate knowledge of Kirova's reprimanding, I had half a mind to say it was one of her best. She brushed on everything: family honor, educational commitments, recklessness… and on.

It was easy for me to concentrate on the paperweight on her desk, tuning out everything I was sure I would hear haunting Lissa's thoughts in the coming weeks.

At my own name, I tuned back in.

"And you, Miss Hathaway. Of all the irresponsible things you have gotten up to in your time at this academy, this has got to be the lowest of them all. You have broken the base promise of our kind. Guardians protect Moroi. Guardians don't kidnap them and go gallivanting around the country, offering the last Moroi of her bloodline up to the Strigoi like fodder."

Lissa's emotions welled up inside her, but she spoke levelly, voice verging on the edge of compulsion. "Rose didn't force me to into anything. I wanted to go – I insisted on going. She's not to blame here."

As if she was actually listening, Kirova scoffed, leaving her chair to look out the window of her office.

"Miss Dragomir, I don't care if you orchestrated the entirety of the plan from creation to implementation. As a novice, it was her responsibility to stop it from ever happening. She could have notified people before you acted. Her duty is to keep you safe."

I snapped, all the stewing I had done over the past few hours welling up inside of me. I was out of my chair in seconds, Alexei and Alberta shifting away from their places on the wall. They were probably readying themselves in case they had to restrain me.

"I did my duty! I kept her safe. I got her out of here when _no one_ at this goddamn academy were even trying to. I took her away because she wasn't safe here, I did my _duty."_

From the bond, I could feel Lissa trying to calm me, sending soothing messages. I was a lost cause.

Kirova looked at me as such, unphased and making her way to sit on the edge of her desk. "Miss Hathaway. Do tell. Why was a magically-warded facility with experienced guardian protections less safe than living on the run with a half-trained novice? Please, enlighten me."

I couldn't. It was too much.

She smirked at my response, or lack thereof. "Exactly as I suspected. Having avoided the consequences for the destruction you caused here just before your escape, my decision is made. You, Princess Dragomir, must continue here at the Academy for the safety of yourself and your bloodline."

"Unfortunately," she continued, dripping in sarcasm. "We have no such obligations to you. We have made arrangements for you to be sent away, immediately."

I wanted to jump to my feet again, fight the resolution, defend myself. But my throat was bone dry. I struggled to catch my breath.

Suddenly, a commotion could be heard out in the hallway – raised voices, no doubt of guardians, opposing another, increasingly indignant. I saw Alberta and Alexei, in my peripheral vision, readying themselves for the doors to open, hands posed near their stakes as if any second a strigoi might stroll in after making pleasantries with the outside guards.

A man I had never seen before strode through the doors. He wore an ostentatious maroon velvet suit, a yellow and gold silk scarf, and – if I squinted – I swore I could see a gold hoop in at least one of his ears. I caught Lissa's eye and, in addition to the lingering fear and shock I could feel pouring through the bond, they held confusion.

"So terribly sorry that I'm late. What have I missed?" His deep voice was accented, though not in the same way as Alexei's, and it was clear that he knew exactly what he had come into.

Kirova, for once, was nearly speechless. "Uhm, excuse me," she stammered out. "I don't know how you got in here or who you are but-"

"Ibrahim Mazur," he said, reaching forward between Lissa and I to grab her hand, squeezing one between both of his hands and holding them far too long for my preference.

The action did nothing to help Kirova's wide-eyed stare. If anything, they grew wider. "Mr Mazur, your reputation precedes you. I can be available to meet with you following this meeting, but I have to insist that we get this one tied up before then."

"Headmistress Kirova, you may call me Abe," he started, settling into an unoccupied seat next to me and crossing his legs in an over-stated gesture. "I will have you know that I was sent for as a part of this meeting."

"Mr Ma- Abe," she corrected herself. "That is simply impossible."

"Not at all. You sent for Rose's parental guardian and, as her mother is occupied with Lord Szelsky, I came in her place."

The room fell silent as he turned to catch my wide, confused eyes. What the _hell_ was going on?

"I can assure you," the man continued, "that the wellbeing of my daughter has a great deal to do with me."

I felt Lissa's alarm and could feel her eyes snap to look at me. I didn't break Abe's eye contact, and it hit me. I was looking into my own eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Thanks for the warm welcomes on this story! I'm cranking out some chapters and hope to update twice a week for the foreseeable future. This chapter goes out to the anonymous reviewer who quite literally predicated the contents of this chapter, though I'd already written it. Enjoy!_

* * *

For an absent father, Abe Mazur seemed pretty all-knowing, having stepped between Lissa and Kirova as soon as the former turned her gold-glinting eyes of compulsion on the other.

"I wouldn't do that, Princess," he pressed, cleverly avoiding her eyes.

Lissa had meant to convince the headmistress that she'd been _confused. _There was no reason to send me away, after all. I would be staying at the academy. I would be her guardian.

"Trust me," he plead.

Her trust in this stranger, my father, had made the decision clear to Kirova: I was no longer welcome to attend St. Vladimir's Academy.

We were shuffled out of the office shortly thereafter, allowed the rest of the day for Abe to make our arrangements and get us out of there. He led us to his guest quarters. One of his guardians had barely gotten the door open when I was pushing him inside, Abe insisting to his men that they could leave me be.

"Start talking, old man."

As it turned out, after word had spread through Moroi society about the accident, Abe had been keeping close tabs on me. While my mother had sent him updates on me when I was younger, they had long since stopped when I became a teenager. He'd creatively gotten updates funneled through to him anonymously through "sources" in the academy, whatever that meant. And when I had stepped out from under the school's umbrella, taking Lissa with me, he'd gotten creative.

Truly, we had never been alone in the outside world. Not with his hired eyes watching over, protecting us like our own set of unseen guardians.

Though it was hard for me to admit, I found it comforting to hear that someone had been with us, providing an extra layer of defense for Lissa in the outside world. Only when Lissa's thoughts and emotions had pulsed into me, reflecting the same, did I start to doubt her own confidence in our safety.

"So who sold us out?" I asked him, figuring that if he had eyes on us it only made sense that he would know the answer.

The ground he had gained after informing us of his protections shrank in on itself when he responded. "Well, I did."

I bounced to my feet, and Lissa loosely held my wrist, pushing calming thoughts through her touch to keep from getting more agitated at my _dad. _

"Why would you possibly do that? If you were so concerned with our safety, you never would have brought us back here!"

Unphased by my outburst, he leaned back in his seat. "Do you really think facing psyhounds and expanding the gap in your training is the safer option of the two?"

"You don't know me. We escaped those psyhounds in Chicago, no problem. How dare you question my ability to protect her."

"Rosemarie," he chided, all but rolling his eyes at the way my eyes narrowed hearing my full name. "I had eyes on you, remember? I received more than enough reports that you hadn't so much as run or hit a gym outside of PE class since you left the academy."

I scoffed, but didn't correct him. _He wasn't wrong. _

Suddenly, the full subtext of his words hit m.

"Wait… you mentioned the psyhounds like they were a safety risk... The school didn't send them?"

He shook his head grimly, meeting my eyes.

"It's been baffling me for months," he confirmed. "I couldn't believe that they would stoop to such extreme methods to find you. Rather than risk your safety, I sent Alexei, an acquaintance's guardian, ahead with my information, hoping they would use less harsh methods to retrieve you both. But when he got here and spoke to Alberta and the other guardians on the task force, they were just as bewildered by it. They hadn't even known you were in Chicago."

The room seemed to close in on us, just briefly.

"It's part of the reason I came up with the idea to take you away, Rose. Maybe, if whoever sent them thought Vasilisa was alone, we could draw them out."

"Oh, that's your brilliant plan? Leave Lissa here, unprotected? Have me walk away, shamed by our whole society, no possible option except to join a commune?"

Abe leaned back in his chair, smiling wryly and addressing Lissa.

"To address that first concern, I don't plan to leave you unprotected at all, Princess. I have spoken to both Alberta and Serena, your new sanctioned guardian. I can assure you that they are both well-aware of the circumstances as well as my proposal and will be paying very close attention to your safety. On top of that, I have it on good authority that a good guardian or two will be applying to work at the Academy in the next coming weeks."

He turned his gaze back upon me.

"And as far as your fate, no daughter of mine will ever be disgraced. I have one question of you." I nodded at him to continue. "How willing are you to train to become one of the best guardians our world has ever seen?"

Under usual circumstances, I would have probably made a joke out of his question. But, considering the magnitude of the past few hours and the consequences that had befallen me, I sobered up.

I captured Lissa's eyes with my own, delivering my promise into her eyes. "I'll do anything it takes."

Maybe if I had known that _anything_ equated to Siberia, Russia, I would have reconsidered.

However, Abe insisted that it was likely my only choice. There was no way that I would be allowed in any academy in North American, not with their close communication and record sharing.

Using what seemed to be an endless stream of contacts under his belt, Abe had already pre-arranged my entrance into St Basil's Academy in Russia, knowing that I would need options.

St Basil's was far stricter than even St Vladimir's, where I had always floundered under the strict rules. Run closer to a military school, they were known for producing some of the best guardians and, as such, they were willing to make one out of _anyone_. Even a reject from another school.

Alexei, a graduate of the very academy, took it upon himself to administer my entrance tests.

After knocking me on my ass for the fifteenth time in a row, not unnoticed to my former-fellow novices who kept getting yelled at to _pay attention_, the brute pulled me to my feet roughly.

"At this rate, Hathaway. It looks like you may have to enter a class below what you would have been here."

I groaned, insistent. "That's not an option. If I don't graduate with Lissa, they'll assign her a different guardian, I need that second slot."

Abe sat on the sidelines, watching our every move. "St Basil's makes good use of mentor-student relationships to help refine their student's techniques and give each specialized attention. Alexei's charge recently became a teacher at the school, maybe we can arrange to have you fast-tracked with a mentor."

I looked between the two, unbelieving. "There's no way that I'm going to let Mr. Brick Wall of Silence and Muscles beat me up every day for the next year."

Alexei let loose a chuckle, an unfamiliar smile breaking the stony exterior I'd come to know since he'd gathered us in Oregon the day before.

"I'm not for lost causes" he teased. "Besides, I have my own charges. My guarding partner, Dima, may just be the perfect fit for you, though. He hasn't been assigned anyone yet, mostly just been planning logistics. But he could definitely get you into shape."

I was really beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

Abe quickly retreated from the gym, cellphone in hand, presumably to arrange for this _Dima_ to mentor me.

I excused myself from Alexei, who moved to join the guardians cleaning up as the final class of the day let out. The novices who had been practicing in the space were returning mats to their stacks and grabbing their gym bags, probably hoping to get some solace and a shower in before dinner.

"Ashford! Castile!" I shouted, causing most of the heads to swivel my way. I ignored them, meeting the eyes of just the two people I wanted to see.

"Hey, Rose." Mason smiled grimly at me. "We heard about what happened. Sorry-"

I waved off their condolences. "It's fine, it's not your fault. My antics were bound to catch up with me sometime." Neither of them caught my smile. "Anyway, I actually have to ask a favor from both of you."

They glanced between each other, but I powered through in my request.

"I'm getting shipped off from this place later tonight," I admitted. "I just- I need you guys to promise to look after Lissa. It's going to be really hard on her, not having me around. Between the two of you, you can probably muster up enough sass to take my place, right?"

Eddie scoffed, finally breaking into a smile. "There's no way either of us could even come close. But we'll try," he amended, serious.

Mason chose the high road, breaking the tension further. "I definitely don't have enough ass to fill those shoes, Rose. I mean sass," he joked, swiftly ducking away from my hard as it reached out to slap him. "Damn Rose, you're out of practice. Too too slow."

"Give me a year," I promised. "I'll make this academy eat their words."

"If anyone could," Eddie chimed, still the sweetest guy on earth, "I'd place my bet on you."

The two of them joined Lissa, Natalie, and Victor later as they came to say goodbye to me at the front gates. It was tearful, mostly on Natalie and Lissa's parts. I held my own tears back, if only to convey some strength for Lissa.

She had taken me aside earlier in the day for a more proper goodbye, handing me a small box with a family tchotchke inside. A family heirloom.

"I can't accept this," I whispered, attempting to shove it back into her hands. "It's for your family's guardians. You should give it to Serena."

Lissa had simply placed the bracelet neatly around my wrist. "You're my family," she insisted. "I will never have a better guardian than you."

"I'll only be a thought away, Liss. I guess I'll have to reply by email or something. But still."

Just a thought away.

Late summer in Montana had a different bite to the air than it had in Oregon, especially when you were thrust back into a nocturnal vampiric schedule. As I rolled my windows up, my friends having become little specks behind us, I realized with muted happiness that the sunlight at St. Basil's latitude might still be lingering around longer, even as the year got closer to its end.

I allowed the shreds of light peaking over the horizon to carry some hope for me.


	4. Chapter 4

Whatever my father did for a living, it paid well. If it wasn't evident in the way he dressed – well-tailored suits in, as far as I'd seen, every color and fabric – it become very clear in the way he traveled.

Mazur wasn't a royal surname. So, I was fairly surprised to learn that the guardians accompanying us weren't an Academy-derived escort but his own personal guard. I suppose it made sense. The academy wasn't going to send a detail of this size for some non-royal and his rejected dhampir daughter.

"Our society has an interesting way of allotting guards," he mused when I'd marveled at the realization. "Despite what you've learnt at the academy, there are plenty of options beyond allowing our government to control your assignment… especially when there's enough money involved." He winked, emphasizing his words.

I suppose it was comforting to learn that, if our world rejected me from guardianship after all, there were always ways for me to serve Lissa.

As if sensing my thoughts, Abe amended himself.

"You, however, are going to make it the traditional route," he smirked.

"And why is that?"

"Because _no one _underestimates _my _daughter."

And if Abe's small army of guardians hadn't tipped me off to his wealth, my jaw dropped as we were lead into the comfort of a private jet.

Sure, private jets were pretty common in Moroi society. Each royal family was sure to own at least one amongst themselves, more in the larger families. It was convenient to be able to install sunlight-filters, ensure privacy, and provide for the comforts most royal Moroi were used to.

But, _come on._

This one seemed to be tailor-made for the man, quite like his suits. With long couches in bright turmeric yellow arranged facing each other, the jet felt more comforting and luxurious than the jet I had once been on with the Dragomirs.

I settled into the couch directly opposite Abe's. A pretty, young flight attendant, eyeing me with disdain as I slumped in my seat, moved to place an ornate silver tea pot with several cups in front of him. The cups were decorated with layered circles in blue, white, and black that came together to form an eye shape. Interesting.

My father was conversing in hushed Turkish with Pavel, the head of his guardian detail. Pavel came off as a kind, caring man but I had no doubt, especially with Abe's standards, that he was deadly in battle.

When I detected a pause in their conversation, Abe leaning over to pour himself more tea, I cleared my throat.

"So about my arrangements to enter St. Basil's," I started. "I was thinking… I don't really want to enter the school with the name of a disgraced novice who kidnapped the last Dragomir heir. And, while I'm not entirely stoked on the fact you chose _this _time of my life to show up as my father… Well, I was wondering if I could enter as Rose Mazur?"

Abe's grin split from ear to ear. Next to him, Pavel softened, taking in the beam on his boss's face.

"I would treasure that, dear," Abe responded.

Soon thereafter, Alexei sank into a chair across the aisle as we leveled off in the sky. Out of the window, I watched Missoula grow smaller beneath us, the mountains rising around to consume it.

"You've made him go soft," Alexei quipped.

Abe whipped his head towards him, narrowing his eyes.

"Watch yourself, young man." It was clear that it wasn't so much a threat, but he still held firm.

Alexei, it seemed, was afraid of nothing and actually had a personality underneath his work mask. I remarked just as much to him about the latter.

"Mazur borrowed me from Ivan to retrieve you and, as far as I can tell, I've completed that duty. I'm a free man 'til home," he said, stretching his legs up onto the table in front of him.

"With that attitude," my father chastised as Pavel smacked a rolled up paper at Alexei's feet, "Maybe I'll use you for a few more favors. I'm sure Ivan wouldn't mind."

The younger guardian turned his grin on me. "That's why they sent me," he said, addressing my earlier comment about his sass. "Even if it meant leaving my students without mentors for the week, they sent me because they thought we would get along better… that I'd be more convincing to get you home than silent and deadly Dimitri."

I snorted, covering up a flare of anxiety that, maybe, this mentor was going to be the real challenge. "And here I thought it was because you're built like the hulk."

"Thanks."

"Was it a compliment?" I asked rhetorically. We both knew the answer.

I was fairly curious about Alexei's stature. Strength, no doubt, played an advantage while fighting Strigoi, but I couldn't imagine he was very lithe on his feet. With the undead having such superior speeds and reflexes, we trained for years to try and close that gap. I couldn't see where the extra bulk came in handy.

Regardless, I left the conversation at that, allowing them to shift back into planning logistics.

I made myself comfortable in my seat, hoping to close my eyes for a bit of a nap. My brief interim at the academy hadn't been enough to switch back to the nocturnal schedule.

After what I could only hope was long enough to get us to whatever ocean we'd be flying over, a pulse of emotions make their way through the bond, knocking me from sleep. I suppose it was comforting to know, for sure, that it still worked even as the distance between us became greater.

Nostalgia. Nervousness. Questioning. Excitement. Her feelings were all over the place, flowing into me in more of a jumble than a neat succession.

I was conscious of a the pull before I was "sucked" into her head. It was as though we were one person now, seeing and feeling in unison.

Dinner had just finished up, making me think my exhaustion must have gotten the better of me and allowed for some sleep, considering we'd left the Academy around breakfast. Lissa was exiting the commons, those around her flitting between there and their residences for rest, homework, and, most likely, socialization.

Rather than follow the masses, Lissa was headed for the small chapel on campus.

The Russian Orthodox religion was predominant in Moroi society. Growing up, Lissa had always attended with her family. When they had died, she had done so more wholeheartedly. Her clear intent to go there was interesting, considering that services were only held on Sundays and significant holidays. But maybe, just maybe, she wanted to make up for time lost on the run.

When she entered the building, however, it was clear that she wasn't visiting to pray for my salvation or even her own safety. Instead, she glanced around furtively, confirming that the building was empty. Near the back of the chapel, she opened an almost unnoticeable doorway which swing open to reveal a small, rickety stairway.

A sense of calm familiarity filled her as she climbed up into the small attic. She took in the lightening sky as it came through the large stained-glass window, gems of color cast onto the floor, dust swirling through the beams.

This was a regular hideaway for her, I realized with a start.

The anxiety in her seemed to wash away as she climbed into the window seat. The tinted window provided enough protection for her to sit in the warmth of the sun, wrapped in positive, radiant color.

_We're going be fine,_ she told herself. _Forget the rumors, forget Mia. Rose will watch over me. Everything will work out. _

Her faith in me never abided. _But who was Mia?_

She was struck from her mantra when a low voice rose from behind her.

"That's my seat."

Her heart pulsed, anxiety spiking in her chest where it had just subsided. "Who is it?"

An unexpected face stepped out from behind a shelf, washed in the dim light.

Dark, messy hair. Eyes that, once he'd stepped within arm's reach, she could see were the palest shade of blue. A taunting smirk plastered to his face.

It was Christian Ozera.

She had almost forgotten about him. I had too.

Suddenly, and I expected not for the last time, I wish I was there to help her. More so, I wished our bond could work both ways. That way, she could hear me pleading with her to _get out of there. He's no good._

"What are you doing here?"

"I come here to be alone. You were the last person I expected to interrupt that. Had enough of the spotlight already? "

She got up to leave, but Christian was standing in her way. "I didn't come here to be mocked, so if you could just move, I'll be on my way."

"What, can't handle the pressure of so many adoring fans? They were just waiting for your return. Or, can you not handle that they weren't? You were expecting to come back and run straight into Aaron's arms, only to find them occupied with a shiny new toy."

"Get out of my way," she said through gritted teeth, shoving him back to make her way past.

"Hey," he said, voice suddenly becoming softer, as if a new person had taken his place. "How was it?"

"How was what?" she snapped. "My glorious return?"

"The real world."

She was caught off guard by the question, his voice genuinely filled with curiosity. "It was the best," she conceded. "Being normal… nothing different. I miss that."

"Me too," he confirmed.

Even if his demeanor had turned around, it didn't shake Lissa's bitterness that he'd interrupted, and berated, her in what should have been her time alone.

"Can't get enough of being alone out there?" she asked, gesturing out the window. "Had to take over my special room too?"

Christian's eyes narrowed and he leaned against the bookshelf he'd been hidden behind earlier. "I have a lot more to prove that you do," he remarked, voice taking on more of its earlier bite.

That's when it hit Lissa.

Christian's parents, years ago, had been hunted down when they willing turned Strigoi. Ever since, the event had cast a dark shadow on the entirety of the extended Ozera family, and most of all on Christian. But Strigoi couldn't step foot on holy ground.

"Is that why I always saw you at mass? To look good? Prove you aren't your parents?"

He shrugged, but it was obviously true.

"I'll leave you to it," she conceded, moving to leave.

"Wait," he said, catching her wrist. His _I-own-the-world_ smile had faded, eyes surprisingly soft and empathetic. He was so… warm, she realized. "You don't have to go. We can take joint custody, make up a schedule, or something. I've heard plenty of whispers today, you don't have to go through that alone."

Christian, of all people, could understand.

He hesitated for a moment, before adding. "I'm really sorry about Rose."

She paused to study him, thanking him quietly. His warm fingers let go of her wrist as she glanced down to where they had lingered. He didn't seem like the worst company.

I had to disagree, but I pulled myself out of her head, jerking into my own realm of consciousness. I made a mental note to get Abe to find out her email address. There was no way this one-way bond would suffice for communication, especially when it was enabling her free-reign to hang out with _Christian Ozera._

From the couch across from me, Pavel gave me a questioning look. My father was fast asleep beside him, looking only as vulnerable as he probably ever allowed himself to be. I simply smiled back, closing my eyes to attempt more rest.


	5. Chapter 5

If I thought St Vladimir's was in a remote part of Montana, St Basil's may have been hidden in a country no one knew existed. Or else, on a different planet. In a different solar system.

I wasn't exactly sure where in Russia we were. Then again, I'm not sure if anyone did, not even the pilot.

As we approached the school's landing strip, I found myself looking out over vast stretches of lush forests, unbroken as far as the eye could see except for a wide, meandering river. And then, springing up as if out of nowhere ahead of us, the tell-tale sight of civilization. Sort of.

The Moroi pilot announced that the local temperature was in the mid sixties and would slowly be dipping to the fourties around the mid-day sunset. I realized with a start that it was 6pm. By now in Montana, the sun would be preparing to set within the hour. Here? Not so much.

It was a wonder that Siberia held a thriving subpopulation of Moroi. The long bouts of sunshine must take a lot of getting used to for sensitive Moroi skin in this kind of climate.

I, for one, was looking forward to basking in it as much as I could.

Our entourage made to disembark and I stood up behind Alexei who turned to me, bag slung over his shoulder.

"Home sweet home," he said warmly, lacking his usual sarcasm. "What did you think of the flight over?"

"There's less snow than I thought there'd be," I mused. "Though it looks just as much like a deserted wasteland as I'd expected."

He narrowed his eyes in jest, turning to descend the stairs. Alexei and I had quickly settled into a sarcastic banter, as if we'd been friends for longer than a few days.

"Wasteland?" he scoffed. "This academy will put yours to shame."

From what I'd seen flying over, they looked damn similar. Though, I suppose the gothic architecture was more true to form here than it was in Montana, considering our school had been modeled after the more established academies in Europe. This school was much, much older.

"Alyosha," a new voiced shouted. "Don't you give that girl too much trouble."

The voice in question must have belonged to Ivan. Though I'd never met him before, he looked like a Zeklos if I'd ever seen one.

Tall and lean, I was surprised to see that his slim body belied light muscles that were uncharacteristic of most of his kind. Nonetheless, Ivan had the well-styled bronze hair and muted blue eyes of another Zeklos I'd known at the Academy: Jesse. They could have been brothers. Though Jesse was widely believed to be the hottest guy at St Vladimir's, something I could confirm myself, even Ivan gave him a run for his money.

"Rosemarie Hathaway?" Ivan asked, stretching out his hand and introducing himself. It was a dumb question for him to ask considering we'd traveled with my father's all-male security detail and Alexei. I held my quip, hoping to start off on a good, fresh foot here.

"Rose Mazur," I corrected him, taking his hand for a brief moment. While I expected Ivan's hand to be soft and supple, like any other Moroi who did little to no hard labor, I was surprised to feel hard callouses lining his palm.

Abe sidled out from behind me, giving Ivan a nod. "We weren't sure how quickly news travelled," he explained in response to their raised eyebrows.

Ivan nodded, turning to clap the shoulder of Alexei. "I'm sure that you've had more than your fair share of time with Alyosha. This is my other guardian, Dima," he said, gesturing to a figure beside him. My eyes followed his movement, and I fought the urge to let them bug out.

He was tall, taller than Ivan even. While not impossible, height was rarer in dhampirs. Alexei took a place at his side and I snickered at the difference in stature.

"You've got a guardian on either side of the size bracket," I noted. "How fortunate."

"Watch yourself, kolyuchka," Alexei taunted. _(thorn)_

Looking at them side by side was comical. While Alexei was almost the same height as me and raw muscles, the other guardian was well over six foot. He had much more subtle muscles, though they were still very evident based solely on the stretch of the strange, long leather duster he was wearing. He looked like he would be even more at home in Montana among his fellow cowboys than here.

Despite that, he was much more my speed.

Dark hair, grown long, abnormal even amongst female guardians, and tied tight at the nape of his neck. His eyes were the same rich chocolate color of his hair. Though muted by the mask of a true guardian, I could see that his eyes shone with amusement from Alexei and I's banter.

Maybe training wouldn't be so hard after all.

"Please," he spoke, and if I wasn't getting so used to the deep tenor of a Russian accent, I swear I would've gone weak in the knees. "Call me Dimitri."

"He really likes when you call him _Dimka_," Alexei teased, receiving a glare from Dimitri and slap up the back of the head from Ivan.

"Dimitri is far too proper and sentimental… only his family is allowed to call him Dimka," noted Ivan with a wink. "He'll warm up to you, though. He'll be your combat mentor while you're here. Hopefully he'll be able to catch you up and get you on track to graduate on time."

By now, we'd started towards some cars that would take us closer to the main campus. With my dad and his men clambering towards one and Ivan still deep in conservation with me, I veered towards the other.

Ivan climbed into the front seat, next to someone who was likely a school guardian, leaving me sandwiched in the back between Dimitri and Alexei.

I felt jittery where I sat next to Dimitri, squished closer to him due to Alexei's sheer size. There was no denying that Dimitri was gorgeous, but I really needed to get a hold on myself. I wasn't here to meet people, I was here as an avenue of getting back to Lissa. As if sensing my thought, Dimitri glanced down to where our legs touched and shuffled further away in the limited space.

"Dima and I will also be tutoring you in Russian," Ivan continued. "I will give you private instruction on grammar when we can arrange it and he will be with you in classes to translate as needed. St. Basil's, naturally, does all their instruction in Russian, but you shouldn't feel totally helpless in your combat classes."

"You and I will meet before and after classes for training," Dimitri spoke up. "And on Saturdays."

I audibly groaned, sinking into myself.

"What's that for?" Alexei laughed. "It's not like you have any friends to keep up with here."

"Alexei," both Ivan and Dimitri warned in unison. It seemed like something I would hear often.

"I'm not wrong," he defended. "You're going to spend Saturdays with the only besties you need: Alyosha and _Dimka_."

"Keep calling him that and I think Ivan will only have one guardian left," I retorted, noting Dimitri's exasperated sigh next to me.

Much like it had on the flight, St. Basil's seemed to materialize out of nowhere. I leaned forward to get a better look at the ornate buildings we passed by. Where my old school was all slate stone, the buildings here were warm-toned red brick, with more ornate details and color woven through. St. Vladimir's paled in comparison, and I automatically felt more welcome in my new home.

We exited the vehicles, all of Abe's guardians but Pavel splitting off in a different direction with the bags. Ivan introduced the large, open courtyard we'd stopped in as the commons. Surrounding us were administrative buildings, the mess hall, and some classrooms, all connected by an outdoor, covered hallway, he explained.

The students milling about watched curiously. It must have been a spectacle – guardians and Moroi they knew and respected, mixed with those they didn't, all centered around a unfamiliar dhampir right about their own age. I almost felt as though I had my own guardian escort.

Dimitri nudged me when a voice called out his name, pointing out a pretty dhampir girl who waved at us from across the square. Besides the purple streaks running through her brown hair, they could have been twins.

He smiled softly as he explained, waving back to her. "That is my sister, Viktoria. She's very excited to meet you, she'll no doubt try and be your best friend."

I knew better, but the travel and whirlwind of the past few days got the better of me. "I already have one," I snapped, quickly regretting it.

A few seconds passed as we made our way inside one of the buildings and down a wide hallway, paintings of formers headmasters and Queen Tatiana lining the wall to our left.

"I'm sorry."

He simply nodded in understanding, eyes set ahead.

A cheerful voice welcomed us into the Headmistress' office. At the desk sat a tall, willowy Moroi woman, who I recognized from one of the more prominent photos in the hallway. She had long, dark hair framing a warm face with wide, emerald green eyes.

"Headmistress Tarus," Abe crooned, taking her hand in another overly friendly shake. "Thank you so much for working on this arrangement with me."

"Nonsense," she said, gesturing for us all to take a seat. "Here at St. Basil's, we believe anyone has the right to become a guardian or, at the very least, learn to defend themselves.

"Rosemarie, I presume?" she asked.

I nodded politely. "Please, call me Rose."

She smiled kindly, we weren't at St Vladimir's anymore.

"Rose, I'll be blunt. I have been told that we have a lot of refinement to do." I shrank in on myself, suddenly self-conscious. "But, I also here that you have dedication that just might win out. You have an assignment in mind after graduation, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. My best friend Vasilisa Dragomir."

"A worthy charge," the headmistress smiled. "She will be graduating this coming year. So, try as we might, we'll work on getting you caught up and on track to graduate as well. Fortunately, Guardian Belikov here has agreed to be your mentor. You're a lucky one," she winked. "Guardian Belikov was at the very top of his graduating class here at St Basil's."

That didn't surprise me in the slightest. I turned towards him, impressed nonetheless.

"He's the most sought after mentor we have at this school, but he has never relented to train a novice until now. I trust that you'll be able to grow a great deal under him"

As a whole, the meeting went smoothly. We set my schedule and confirmed the details of my language lessons with Ivan and Dimitri. Before leaving St Vladimir's two years ago, I had taken a first year Russian class that taught me some basics. Though I would have to dig back, we hoped that my previous experience would give me a leg up, especially with learning the brand new alphabet more or less behind me.

When we stood to leave, Headmistress Tarus rose with us, giving me one last kind smile and some encouragement. "I know that your dedication will help you rise up the ranks here at St. Basil's, Ms Mazur. It'll work hand in hand with our specialized system of learning to help you get back on track."


	6. Chapter 6

Considering how far behind I already was in school, I had vaguely hoped that I'd get let off the hook so I could figure out my circadian clock.

Without considering my opinion, everyone had figured getting me into classes as soon as possible was the best route. Forcing me to adapt to the time change, rather than wallow in it, would evidently do me the most good.

Altogether, the schedule I'd received wasn't too different from what I could have expected from St. Vladimir's.

1st Period Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques

2nd Period Bodyguard Theory and Protection 4

3rd Period Weight Training and Conditioning

4th Period Biology

Lunch

5th Period Advanced English Language Arts

6th Period Pre-Calculus

7th Period Moroi Culture Seminar

8th Period Mentorship

The major difference probably had to be a greater time allotment for practical training over the humanities. While a lot of us would likely follow our Moroi to college after graduation, there were some checks to coast us along in those settings. More important than ensuring our well-rounded education was refining us physically for our duty.

With my new schedule looming over me, I tried to stay positive about my prospects.

I was pleased that one of my classes was going to be plain old English. Surely, of any of my classes, that would be the easiest to get a hold of. Math would hopefully involve less technical language than written problem solving, which would be easier to adapt to than Biology. My only saving grace with the latter was that I loved biology. No doubt, Dimitri would come in handy there.

I was pleased to notice that Mentorship, which I would spend with the same man, was a part of the schedule. Hopefully it would serve as a place holder for my afternoon training with him.

As if sensing my thoughts, he chimed in. "We will be doing extra training on top of the allotted mentorship block."

I'll be damned.

Abe and Pavel bid us a good day, headed towards guest housing for rest I was oh-so envious of. Ivan likewise split off with Alexei, bound for whatever duties a teacher might have. That left me and Dimitri alone.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

I caught my lip between my teeth for a moment. "A little. The whole translation thing is going to be hard to get ahold of, but at least I have English class."

"While you were on your way, we made sure to inform the faculty of the situation, so they're all well aware that you'll need some patience. I'll do my best to help you, we can probably pair up for partner drills in the course until you can get ahold of the language and feel comfortable enough to train with other students. Ivan is also a very capable teacher, you'll learn a lot with him.

"But I won't sugar coat it," he continued. Yikes. "I'm not going to go easy on you, and neither will the academy. If you want to be Princess Dragomir's guardian, you're going to have to show up."

"Lissa."

"Hmm?"

I fumbled, wondering where I was going with this, "Well, if you ever met her… she'd ask you to call her Lissa."

His eyes softened, nodding.

It was honestly humbling how willing they all were to help me, a hopeless stranger. I was about to remark as much when Dimitri stopped in front of what I could only assume was the gym door. They had allowed me to change into training clothes from my bags before everyone had gone their separate way. The brief moment of solitude had given me time to calm my nerves and prepare myself.

Dimitri tried to usher me in the door first, like a gentleman, but I insisted he lead the way if only so that he could take the brunt of the stares when we first entered.

Because we were entering the gym mid-class, the students were already paired up and practicing sparring. I watched a few of those in their pairs acting as Strigoi take some nasty hits when they got distracted at my entrance.

Like a ton of bricks, it hit me that I would be expected to show my combat technique off in front of the ever-curious cluster of eyes around us. So, imagine my surprise when, with a nod to the instructing guardian, Dimitri led me to a smaller gym off the side of the main practice area, where he slung his bag to the ground and moved to get some training mats.

I could hear the instructor behind us as the door closed, shouting "vozvrashchaysya k rabotye."

"He just told them to 'get back to work'," Dimitri translated, true to his job.

"I expected you to feed me to the dogs back there, Comrade," I remarked, throwing my hoodie to the ground and moving to help him.

He shot me a sidelong glance of amusement at my new nickname for him. I bet Alexei would get the real kick out of it.

"Ivan thought it would be kind to ease you into it… though only as far as being a public spectacle, not as far as training intensity. Believe it or not, we aren't trying to torture you here. There's no need for everyone to see you play catch up, especially if you're wanting to fly under the radar."

"Then we really aren't at St. Vladimir's," I remarked.

"No we are not. And on that note, I'd like to start with some basic form."

The respite of lunch couldn't have come sooner. Though Dimitri was doing a good job of subtly translating all my lessons to me over whispers in the back of the room and even had me with the regular novice rotation in weight training, this new method of learning was going to take some getting used to. Not to mention, I was getting my ass kicked. Dimitri wasn't joking when he said he wouldn't let me go easy… not with the weights I chose in conditioning, not with seeing my reps to the finish.

We waited for Ivan and Alexei just inside the cafeteria, where they emerged from behind a set of double doors off the main drag. With the way that Ivan was wiping his lips with a napkin, it was clear that those doors led to the feeder's room.

I gazed, wide-eyed at the doors, then stopped myself. I was going to make myself sick, thinking about the feeding with longing. I was _not _going there right now.

Alexei shot me a sympathetic smile, likely connecting the look on my face with the details he knew of my recent past.

I quickly averted my gaze, shifting to look around the cafeteria.

Ivan found an empty table while the rest of us went through the food line. When we all exited, we found him already joined by Viktoria.

"Vika," Dimitri said warmly, taking the seat next to her. "This is wonderful, you can formally meet Rose."

I settled across from him and smiled softly at Viktoria. After how I'd snapped at him yesterday, I wanted Dimitri to see me at least make a concerted effort to get to know her. "It's wonderful to meet you,"

"I couldn't wait to meet the talk of the town," she gushed.

I lifted my eyebrows, suddenly self-conscious.

"Oh no, nothing bad, Rose! It's just that, everyone is so curious about the new student who SOMEHOW got Dimka here to take on a trainee."

"I heard many students talking about it in class," Alexei confirmed. "The _god_ finally found someone worthy."

"The god?" I asked, quirking the corner of my mouth up. "What's that all about."

"Everything thinks that Dimitri is some sort of mythical being," Alexei explained. "I'm still waiting for my own big bad nickname."

"Anyway," I huffed. "It's not like I earned you so much as I'm so desperately in need of help that they had to choose the best possible guardian so I could have at least a fighting chance at being half as good," I amended, ready with the self-deprecation.

Dimitri shakes his head stonily. He was more talkative around his friends and family that he had been all day. "We'll be able to get you to graduation ," he said simply.

"And with such a worthy charge, we know you'll rise to the occasion," Ivan chimed in.

I ducked my head under the semblance of praise, knowing I hadn't earned it yet.

"Who do you have in mind to guard, Rose?" Viktoria asked, shoveling some food into her mouth like a true dhampir. I can see Alexei next to me, attempting a similarly comical bite.

"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir," I admitted. With Dimitri as my mentor, she must know a few of the circumstances around my arrival, or she would at some point.

She was just as taken aback as I thought she would be. _Woah_ seeming to be the only thing she can get out.

"What about you?" I countered. "Surely you have someone worthy in mind."

She scrunched her face, answering simply, "I'm not going to become a guardian."

I stopped mid-bite. "What do you mean?"

"Our babushka, Yeva, has very strong idea about gender norms," she clarified, shrugging.

Dimitri chimed in, "All of the women in our family have gone to school at St. Basil's but, upon graduation, return to our village to get jobs, raise families."

"It's pretty common as a track for dhampir here, we take similar training courses but don't get mentors and take more humanities, to prepare us for jobs in the outside world. But I think Yeva just believes it's best to use our skills to protect the community… not many people in it have the means to do so. My sisters and I can bridge that gap," Viktoria elaborated, proud of her own family's contributions

It hits me then. Dimitri's family, large as it is, must live in a dhampir commune. A community of non-guardian women and families that develop as a direct byproduct of Moroi visitors. Communities like these are pretty much the sole source of continued production of dhampirs. They're also exactly the kind of place I had always looked down upon, where I had made outlandish assumptions I would be sent upon getting kicked out of the academy, meant to spend the rest of my days as a _blood whore_ to paying Moroi. Maybe it wasn't like that after all.

Deep in thought, the conversation veers in a different direction, Alexei telling some wild story, enrapturing Viktoria while her brother and Ivan rolled their eyes in response.

"Oh, Rose, Dimitri!" I turned to see Viktoria waving in excitement, leading her friend over with her to take the seat next to me.

"What are you doing in this class?" I asked curiously. It was seventh period and the Moroi culture seminar seemed like an easy excuse to relax and prepare for my upcoming mentorship block with Dimitri.

"At St. Basil's, the Moroi culture seminar is held with both of the upper years together. It's a chance for dhampirs and Moroi to come together and learn about society, about how we coexist. Usually, it's a lot of 'How to get by after graduation' stuff."

"Usually?"

She grinned at me impishly.

Beside me, Dimitri joined in the conversation. "Ivan is a new teacher this year, so he had quite the idea about what to teach."

I heard the man in question's voice from the front of the room, causing all the loud conversations to filter away.

"Settle down class," Dimitri whispered to me, translating Ivan's obvious motion of speaking up and over the class, commanding attention.

I tried to sound out what I had just heard for myself, though I figured it would be more worthwhile to get Ivan to write it down for me later. I had a feeling I would be hearing that more often than not in a school setting.

"So what is this semester's special topic," I asked Dimitri. The bastard had the nerve to just _wink _at me in return, turning in anticipation to the front of the room.

When Ivan spoke again, I got my answer in Dimitri's translation.

"Joint Moroi-guardian combat techniques."

* * *

_Author's Note: I'm more than excited to get this chapter out in the world. Hope y'all are interested in what's to come!_


	7. Chapter 7

I was practically buzzing in my seat but the time the seminar let out, ready to tackle Dimitri with questions.

In the midst of class, with him breathing down my neck, offering translations to what I saw unfolding before me, I could barely breathe. Whether it was from the excitement, the novelty of what was going on, or else just his proximity was beyond me.

When Ivan had first introduced the class name, Dimitri's translations right next to me, I had snapped my face towards his, leaving the space too intimate considering how closely he usually leaned into me to avoid disturbing my classmates. In the span of a heartbeat, I had take a sharp breath, convinced that Dimitri had glanced down at my lips as he jerked backwards. I really needed to get a grip on myself.

Back at St. Vladimir's, Moroi magic was something dhampir novices were rarely privy to outside of the odd argument where a Moroi might whip it out to show his dominance over a classmate. Even then, those kinds of arguments were quickly dissolved by a flock of instructors. Instead, Moroi kept most of their practical magic use to their elemental courses – where students were divided up into their specialties and taught how to yield them.

I hadn't even seen Lissa use much magic in all the years we were gone because, though Moroi maintained a decent control over all over them at once and specialized in one exclusively early in high school, Lissa had never taken control of one in particular. Instead, she had just been able to manage short spurts of each, enough to think about lighting a candle, lift a lock of hair in a breeze, shift the water in your glass, or make a plant look a little less wilted… if you squinted. We'd always just figured maybe her powers lay in an eerily supernatural control of compulsion.

But right before my eyes at St. Basil's, magic was unfolding.

Not in the literal sense for most students – Ivan was still in the lecturing phase, posturing how these techniques may be useful in the long term and how to go about them with the most accuracy, control, and effect. There had been a short demonstration by him – in fire - and other elemental professors which had set the room alight.

Throughout the lecture, I had been able to watch the reactions of students around me. For more than a handful of the Moroi students in the class, probably royals who would never be convinced to lift a finger in life, the class seemed to almost be _boring_ in their eyes. But when the magic came out, even the most diffident person in the room leaned in, internal wonder sparked.

This kind of magic could change the world. Why wasn't out whole society keyed into this?

Guardian numbers were low. We relied on communities like those the Belikovs grew up in to bolster the populations because longterm Moroi-dhampir relationships were few and far between and dhampirs relationships, a true rarity, didn't end in conception due to our sterile genes. With some students going to school just to protect their own homes, like Viktoria, that was a resource that wouldn't be going to Moroi protection. Thus, guardians were very specifically distributed and many non-royals didn't receive one in their lifetime, leaving them open to Strigoi.

Moroi would actually stand a chance at survival if they were using their magic both defensively and _offensively_. In tandem with a dhampir guardian, no Strigoi stood a chance, especially when you regarded fire users.

I could hardly believe that any other element would be as useful in a fight, but Ivan completely changed my mind around. Air users could incapacitate them with strong winds, or throw them off with asphyxiation. A water user could control the blood they had in them, manipulating it and choking them enough for a guardian to get a clean shot. And earth users could, with practiced magic, encase them in stone or earth, rendering them immobile in the face of a stake.

There was potential everywhere. Beyond being mystifying, it was infuriating.

Why wasn't Queen Tatiana considering this as an option? Why weren't we empowering all Moroi with the ability to control their own fate?

Viktoria bid Dimitri and I farewell, setting off for her last class of the day.

Every student and guardian had vacated the room, leaving me with Ivan and his two guardians, I skipped down the steps towards the Moroi in question, ready to spout off all my questions.

"What the actual fuck?" I started, at a loss for words to explain the emotions warring inside me.

"Woah woah woah, Kolyuchka," Alexei said as the group came together at the front of the room. "This is a distinguished academy. There will be no such fucking language from you."

I rolled my eyes at him, Dimitri sharing the same sentiment.

Ivan, for his own part, just answered my question thoughtfully. "Don't you think it's time that we Moroi evolve and become proactive about our own protection?" he asked thoughtfully. "A few years after we graduated, the three of us got into a bad situation in Moscow. We were just goofing around suddenly there were four Strigoi, more than Alexei and Dimitri could handle alone."

I grimaced, packs of Strigoi that large were unheard of, and deadly. Luckily, with the three of them around me, the damage couldn't have been permanent.

"I just remembered feeling so helpless, like I was going to watch my best friends die in front of me. My adrenaline kicked in," Ivan continued, rejoicing in the comforting smiles his guardians were giving him while he recounted the tale. "I decided I was at least going to go down swinging, so I threw a fire ball. At the time, it was the most sophisticated thing I had learned in school. It was so small but it hit one of them and the momentary distraction was enough for Dimitri and Alexei to both get an upper hand and my fire helped us incapacitate all the Strigoi.

"So I vowed to learn more about how magic, even all of the elements beyond fire, could be used in this way. Before we settled down at this academy this year, we did quite a bit of traveling, all sponsored by Abe." _Abe?_ He'd known about this all along? "We came across fringe communities of Moroi who, without traditional rules to govern who they were and how they lived, stood alongside dhampirs as a united front, as equals even. Strigoi didn't even test them because, besides being so isolated, they put up the greatest fight at all, even without the regimented training of sending their children through academies. It was remarkable."

"So is this." I murmured, still buzzing in excitement for what was to come. "This could change our world."

From: RosemarieMazur

To: VasilisaDragomir

Hey Liss, long time no talk.

I meant to send you something earlier, but I got so caught up on the journey I didn't even know where to begin. I guess, first and foremost, I go by Rose Mazur here… just to avoid any torment that might come with the territory of the known kidnapper of the last heir of her line. Casual. Abe actually got me set up painlessly, and he seemed way excited that I wanted to be connected to him, even if just by name. He left pretty soon after I got established, always business-oriented, I guess. Regardless, I got swept into training so fast that I really didn't have enough energy at the end of the day to deal with him.

St. Basil's has this wild mentorship allotment that they credit with being the reason they produce the best guardians. I've been assigned to Alexei's guarding partner Dimitri who, besides being way hot, is an icon here!? Seriously, my classmates literally call him a god.

Speaking of… fiery, saw you hanging out with Christian Ozera… would it maybe kill you to fly a LITTLE more under the radar? Go back to making out with Aaron or something.

Anyway… I miss you a lot Liss.

Talk soon.

From: VasilisaDragomir

To: RosemarieMazur

Rose!

I'm so happy to hear from you, you wouldn't believe how crazy life has been here. Speaking of Aaron, he's dating some younger girl now, only by a few years, but honestly she's the worst. I swear, she has it out to get me, down to throwing ice-water down my back after church today. We love a water user, don't we? Hopefully she'll grow out of it when she realize _I don't want him back_! He's boring.

Anyway, Christian isn't THAT bad, he was actually kind of fun. I swear, you'd probably even like him – you both have the same sense of humor. He's also one of the only people who's treated me like a human since I've left, every other Royal has pretty much decided to cast me off, but I'm not complaining. Without you, I'd rather just finish this year in peace.

Mason, Eddie, Natalie, and I have become a mostly-functional group, the former two probably being your idea for protection, I'm guessing? They're really easy going and also treat me like a regular person, which is nice. I'm rooming with Natalie which is interesting… she honestly never stops talking, but I've gotten okay at tuning her out or leaving to study.

Now, tell me more about this handsome mentor of yours?

From: RosemarieMazur

To: VasilisaDragomir

I swear, Lissa, if I so much as SEE that Christian is messing with you, I'll get Mason and Eddie on him, they'll knock some sense into him best as anyone could. In fact, I'll sic them on that little girl Aaron is dating too, then she'll be out of the picture and you can have your boring safe bet back. There are worse things in life and then, after you graduate, you can find a man fit for a king.

Now, for a little bit about my pain in the ass. Dimitri (my mentor) is tall, dark, and beautiful, but he's running me ragged. I've barely gotten a break since I got here – mornings, the mentorship class block, and after classes end as well. Nearly all day on Saturdays. Mostly we've gone over a lot of theory that I missed, but I'm still exhausted. During our mentorship blocks, Ivan (Dimitri and Alexei's charge who is a Zeklos that puts Jesse to shame) teaches me Russian. Everything here is in Russian, it's driving me crazy. Dimitri has to sit at the back of my classes with me to translate what's going on… I'm hoping I can con him into taking my notes and tests too, here's to hoping. Anyway, Ivan says I'm getting better at the language, at least, so there's hope.

I'm glad to see the boys are treating you well. Wish I could be there too.

DO SVEDANEEYA! (Goodbye)

From: VasilisaDragomir

To: RosemarieMazur

You loon, I know what goodbye is in Russian, I actually paid attention in class, remember? I've got it again this year so maybe we can practice over skype one day or something. Speaking of conversing, I may have _asked so nicely _for the dorm matron to give me the phone number to her front desk, it's +1(406)867-5308. Call anytime, dependent on the time difference.

No way you'll get your boys to turn on Christian. They love him. He's started hanging out with us and we all make the strangest group at St Vladimir's but I'm actually starting to enjoy my time here. Why have I never flown under the radar before now? It's a dream not having to play proper anymore. After all our time away, I don't know if I could even try.

From: VasilisaDragomir

To: RosemarieMazur

Liss, watch your compulsion there! You remember what Crazy Karp said, mum is the word on those skills of yours.

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, hanging out with Christian is the OPPOSITE of flying under the radar. At least Mason and Eddie are keeping somewhat of an eye on you.

You'd probably be surprised to hear that I've been flying under the radar as well. It's really

strange… at St Vlad's I had this need to be the top dog socially but here I've just been hanging out with Dimitri, Ivan, and Alexei and it's kind of nice… I mostly avoid my classmates but except for Viktoria, Dimitri's sister who goes to St Basils but isn't planning on becoming a guardian? Culture over here is so different….

Anyway, I want to try and talk with you over the phone soon. The class Ivan is teaching… is… unbelievable. I need to tell you about it with a real time reaction.

From: VasilisaDragomir

To: RosemarieMazur

It's weird, actually. Ms Karp is gone now, she doesn't teach at the school anymore, though no one will tell me why. Strange.

Glad to hear you're getting your quality Dimitri time all over the place. We should have a call or skype session soon to really get everything sorted.


	8. Chapter 8

"This is embarrassing," I groaned as Dimitri reached to pull me up from my place, splayed on the gym floor.

A few weeks had passed since my arrival at St. Basil's and, despite Dimitri finally allowing me to take combat practice with the other students, I was still getting my ass handed to me by him and everyone else in the class.

"You keep teaching me to do all this running," I remarked, moving back into a defensive stance, hands guarded near my face. "But I still can't land a hit on you," I side step one of his swings, spinning backwards.

"Running will be your best defense if you run into a Strigoi," he grunted, sweeping my legs out from under me. I rolled quickly back to my feet. "Good recovery."

"Ignoring the outright insult, that's ridiculous. You can't be serious," I strike out towards his shoulder, which he easily deflects, sending an elbow into my own exposed shoulder. He was going easy on me, and it was infuriating, though understandable.

"I'm not, that was a really good recovery."

"Hardy har har," I mocked, looking for my opening. "Why would I ever run from a Strigoi when I could just take it out?"

"I'm training you to fight the undead and protect Moroi. Stamina and overall fitness are vital to that, but no training can prepare you for a real-world encounter, and no situation is the same. If you're outnumbered or you don't have access to a weapon or you just need to, you run."

"And say I do, but they catch up to me," I postured. "What then? If I can't get a hit on my classmates, some of which aren't even training to become guardians… UGH," I was out of my element, unable to form words when I was dodging my own insecurities and Dimitri's force. "I'm sick of running," _swing,_ "and I'm sick of you making me practice my stance," _duck,_ "and I'm sick of my punches bouncing off everyone."

"Hit harder," he grunted, landing a gnarly kick to my shin.

I saw Dimitri aiming for my upper body, so I steeled myself up in an attempt to deflect him.

And then I felt it. Fear ricocheting into my body like a bullet. None of it my own.

The impact of Dimitri's hit pushed me back, and I could vaguely feel my body fall onto the gym floor again. Any real pain from the impact was masked with Lissa's adrenaline coursing through me.

Dimitri was no longer in front of me. I was in the familiarity of a St Vladimir's Moroi dorm room, which I remembered from sleepovers with Lissa back before I left, when she needed my comfort directly after the accident and I would sneak right into her window without a hitch.

Only, now, there was blood.

Shiny and crimson. Matte and dark. All blending together as it seeped into her once brilliantly white duvet cover.

There, on her pillow, laid an orange blur. Fur, I realized. Wiry and positioned as if the creature had laid down on her bed for rest, the fox looked almost… tame. Cuddly. Serene.

Until you considered the source of the blood.

The fox's throat had been slit roughly, revealing the pink lining. It was disgusting and cruel. Whoever had done this was twisted. Worst of all, the poor creature was still twitching.

I could feel the golden light bubble up in Lissa, but as she took a step forward, a warm hand wrapped around her wrist.

_Christian_. They had been studying together and he offered to walk her back to the dorm. Now, he gripped her firmly, halting her attempts to draw closer to the poor creature. _If only she could help it… _

Christian pulled her back by the arm, "We should go get the dorm Matron," he suggested.

"I need to-"

"There's nothing we can do," he pressed, pulling her from the room. "We need to report this to someone."

For once in my life, I was thankful for Christian Ozera. He lead her out, pausing before closing the door so that no one else could see inside.

"_Roza."_

I blinked my eyes, as if waking up from a long nap, and found myself on the soft mats of the _sportzal. _Dimitri knelt beside me, one hand shaking my shoulder gently as he spoke to a guardian next to him, I was vaguely aware that everyone had stopped practicing, intently focused on me where I lay on the mats.

"This has never happened before," Dimitri relayed to Guardian Anatolyevna. "Someone go get-"

I pushed against his hand, where he had pinned my shoulder to the mat. His head swung back to face me, but I didn't allow him to get any questions in.

"I need your phone," I said, swinging my leg under me to stand. I was aware of a tenderness in right shoulder, likely where Dimitri had met his target moments before.

"Not before you explain to me-"

I felt bad cutting him off, I really did. But I had greater fish to fry at the current moment. "It's Lissa," I pleaded. "Please, give me your phone."

Dimitri seemed to consider it for a moment, but before I could ask him again, a strange look washed through his eyes. He made towards his leather duster, where he had left it next to our place on the practice mats.

I followed him, plucking it from his hands and racing outside of the sportzal doors, Dimitri hot on my heels. In one of our emails, Lissa had given me the number to the phone at her dorm matron's desk, _just in case of emergency_. At the time, Lissa had implied that contacting her on the line might necessitate a heavy hand of compulsion, considering the phones were reserved for in-campus communication between staff, but it would be worth it no matter the outcome.

The first call met a busy line, likely because they had already alerted the dorm matron to the situation and she was contacting the office to get the right people involved. But seconds later, on my second call, the line cleared.

"Hello," the matron answered, voice jittery from the commotion.

"Let me talk to Lissa."

With a surprising lack of convincing, I heard the phone get handed off.

Lissa answered, uncertain. "Hello?"

"Lissa, it's Rose."

I heard her sob on the other end, and I suddenly wished I could be there, stroking her hair and reminding her that everything would be fine. So I did it verbally.

"Everything is going to be okay, Lissa. You're safe. They're going to figure out who did that and it'll be alright," I assured her.

"Were you there? Did you see it? Oh Rose, it was so horrible," she sniveled.

"Someone has a disgusting sense of humor," I snapped. "It's repulsive, the nerve of some people. If I could get my hands on Mia…"

"You don't think it was Mia, do you?"

"I don't know who it was, and I don't care. But they'll get it cleaned up for you, I'm sure they'd even more you to a new room, if you wanted," I assured her. I could feel Dimitri's eyes on me, trying to extrapolate anything he could from the conversation.

"Rose…" Lissa whispered, "Do you remember the last time-"

"No, Lissa. This isn't the same thing. No one saw the raven. This is just some dumb prank, it has nothing to do with that."

On the other end, I could hear a commotion start to rise.

"I have to go, Rose."

"Don't worry Lissa, we'll-" and the phone cut out.

I let out a deep, swooping sigh, staring at the phone a moment before passing it over to Dimitri. He took it gently, standing beside me silently. After a few more moments, I tried to grasp for an explanation. "It was Lissa…. She, uh-"

"May I ask a personal question, Rose?"

"Yeah," I responded, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Are you and the Princess… bonded?" It was almost as if he was tasting the words on his tongue for the first time, whispering it like a secret.

I nodded cautiously, turning to look into his eyes. I'd pictured them vaguely, holding skepticism, disbelief, maybe even admonishment for how I had acted i. Instead, they were gentle. He held my gaze softly. I suppose my own eyes betrayed my surprise.

Behind us, the sportzal door opened, and my fellow novices came flooding out, bound for bodyguard theory in the next classroom. Dimitri and I sprung backwards, allowing the crowd to pass between us. Rather than meet the eyes of any of my fellow classmates, I cast my gaze downward. When the final student passed, I moved back towards the doors, pulling one open so that I could slip inside. Guardian Anatolyevna caught my gaze but I looked away, beelining to grab my backpack and hoodie.

When I slipped back out, Dimitri matched my stride, but instead of leading me towards the usual classroom, he corralled me back towards the dhampir dorms. Rather than question him, I followed as he lead me silently into the first floor common room, gesturing for me to take a seat as he fidgeted with his phone. Then, he slid into the chair across from me.

We took a second just staring at each other before he just asked, "What happened?"

Unsure how much he understood beyond having sensed what exactly Lissa and I's connection was – how? I couldn't begin to understand - I decided to go with the basics.

"I was in… Lissa's head," I explained warily. "It happens sometimes, if she's feeling particularly strong emotions, like when she has nightmares about the accident or… when someone leaves a dead fox on her bed at St Vladimir's."

Dimitri looked shocked, eyes widening. "Is that what happened today?"

I nodded, biting my lip and breaking our eye contact.

"It's just a cruel joke. I mean, I don't want her to worry too much when I'm not there to talk to her all the time, and she has guardians looking over her, my dad made sure of it, but… there was this incident two years ago, right before I took her away.

"We were walking in the woods one day, we skipped class or something stupid, and Lissa found this bird, just dying on the ground. So, whenever she sees something helpless, something injured, this feeling just wells up inside of her- When I feel it, it feels like… this golden warmth just radiating out," I felt stupid trying to explain it to Dimitri, who probably didn't even believe a word of what I said. But when I looked up and met his eyes again, he nodded, total faith in his eyes. I felt something flutter in my stomach, my attraction to Dimitri had been building like a slow burn but, beyond that, I had never felt so trusted outside of Lissa.

"She went up to it and when she touched it- I swear to god Dimitri, this sounds insane but the bird was really dead, we saw it die, and then when she touched it, the golden energy just _exploded_ and suddenly the bird was awake and it just got up and flew away.

"Lissa's mentor saw the whole thing and made her promise never to do it again- made me promise to never let anyone find out. But then, we felt like someone was watching us and the teacher, she was just getting so restless, like something bad was going to happen, and she made me promise to get Lissa away from all of it, to keep her safe.

"So, we ran away. Lissa was really scared and worried, so I told her that I would do anything to protect her, like a guardian should, so I took her away." At this point, I felt desperate to explain myself to Dimitri, who was leaning back in his seat, taking it all in. "When we got back, I told her everything would be fine, no matter where I was, that by now whatever threat she thought was there was gone. I told her that the fox today was just a joke but there's a really small part of me, Dimitri, that worries that it isn't, and I'm all the way over here, helpless. She's got great guardians protecting her, but I should be there too, we're bonded…" I petered off, barely speaking above a whisper.

Dimitri and I were silent for a while. I tried to catch my breath, suddenly worried that I'd said too much. Dimitri seemed to sense the change in me, briefly hesitating before he reached forward to rest his hand over mine. I watched his thumb run circles into the back of it, a simple, comforting gesture.

"I've never told anyone that before," I admitted.

Without a moment's hesitation, Dimitri responded, "Thank you. For trusting me, and for telling me everything. I wish you'd had someone to trust there, but now I know that you didn't take her away for selfish reasons, like everyone assumed, you took her away because you're her guardian, they come first, and you wanted to prioritize her safety and well-being. That takes a lot of guts and self-awareness, especially when you were so young."

He meant it sincerely, and I almost blushed under his gaze. "Yeah, well. My dad did the heavy lifting on making sure that we were actually safe the whole time."

"Regardless," he defended, "you made the calls and you put her first over any other reasons, you could have stayed to protect your own reputation, but you took her away, risking it all."

"And look how that worked out for me."

Suddenly, the door swung open and Alexei strode in.

"I figured you guys were still in here," he said. Alexei paused a second, eyebrow quirking up when he took sight of Dimitri's hand, clasped over mine. His eyes met Dimitri's and he tilted his head, smirking. "Best not miss another class, eh?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Heard about the show you put on in class today, Rose. You went to the trouble to change your name, but I'm not sure you understand the concept of a low profile."

Ivan had worked through lunch with Alexei by his side, so this was the first time our whole group had gotten together, able to discuss the events at hand. Despite how Alexei might have heard about my… episode… the news obviously hadn't reached Ivan yet, he looked at the rest of us, puzzled.

"What show, Rose?"

"I wanted to wait until all of us were together to discuss this," Dimitri clarified to his Moroi. "Rose and the princess… are bonded."

Whatever Alexei imagined has happened, with his tireless sarcasm or jokes towards me, it certainly wasn't that. He and Ivan froze for a moment, shocked. Upon a moment's consideration the guardian gasped and started to ramble aloud to himself, obviously unable to control his reaction as well as Ivan had recovered remarkably faster.

"When did she di-" another gasp from Alexei. "The Dragomir accident."

Dimitri nodded solemnly, as if he was confirming his partner's ramblings. "That's what I thought as well."

"Hold up," I said, slamming my hands down on the desk we were all standing around. "What are you guys talking about? What does the accident have anything to do with this?"

For a moment, the three of them shifted their eyes amongst themselves, uncomfortable.

"I vote Dimitri. They're… close" Alexei said, adding a strange inflection to the word _close. _

I blushed, remembering how he had walked in on Dimitri and I earlier. I can only imagine how he interpreted the gesture. Ignoring Ivan's raised eyebrows, I focus in on Dimitri.

"How much do you know about how your bond was formed?" he asked, unnervingly gentle.

"Nothing," I admitted. "I woke up in the hospital and it was overwhelming. Some people were asking me a billion questions but I was so tired and all I wanted to was to find out where my parents and Rose- I just wanted to find out where I was. I was so confused and there was the most annoying beeping sound and I just knew I had to get out so I held onto the beeping sound and I found myself in a different hospital bed. I was alone." I gave myself a moment to collect my thoughts. "I guess that was the first time I was aware of the bond."

Ivan nodded solemnly, taking over from Dimitri. "You are probably unaware of my research as a whole, but it's pretty pertinent. I've found myself to be a sort of," he paused, grasping for the words, "magic historian. We have been working for the better part of the past few years on learning more about magic and its uses around the world. We've met with people who live off the grid and use their magic to protect themselves, as I've been teaching students here. But we've also met a handful of people who have a rare magic that, for the most part, has been considered lost.

"Has Princess Vasilisa specialized in any specific magic?" Ivan asked the question as if he already knew my answer.

"She never did," I answered, curious as to where he was going.

"From our research, we don't believe that anyone _truly _goes unspecialized."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Ivan continued. "Rather than being unspecialized, we believe the Princess, like others, specialized in that rare, supposedly lost magic I mentioned."

It was all a lot to process, but I realized with a start how much this could help Lissa. She'd gone so long, dragged down by the idea that she was inferior, stunted. Her teachers had long since given up on her specializing before we ran away, sticking her in private study with the weird teacher, Sonya Karp, and hoping something would trigger her. But even now, I knew Mia and some Royal Moroi gave her grief for still being in the Freshman classes for those students who were unspecialized. The knowledge that she was a part of a new magic altogether could change her whole world.

"What can she do? What is it called?" I pressed, leaning forward.

"We call it Spirit. It's more variable than other magics, as far as what we've read or heard about from the few Moroi who've admittedly possessed it."

"Like who, what can they do?"

Dimitri spoke up from beside me, "Back in Baia, my village, there is a woman named Oksana who wields Spirit. She can see auras, little waves of color coming off of a person that reflect their emotions and intentions. She also possesses healing magic, which she can imbue silver with to create charms to help the wearer. St. Vladimir, for whom your school in Montana was named, also had the gift of healing, and incredible charm to others."

When Dimitri spoke of auras and St. Vladimir, I had the vague idea that maybe they were playing some kind of joke on me. None of this could possibly be real, but then it struck me.

"Lissa can heal too, I saw her bring a raven back to life once." The words hung heavy for a moment, the men nervously glancing at each other but not denying the possibility, like I assumed most people might. "I still don't see what this has to do with the accident or our bond…"

Dimitri sighed softly, taking the lead once again. "Oksana has a bond mate as well, his name is Mark. Mark is her guardian and…" Dimitri hesitated, "he died protecting her from Strigoi. Oksana, overcome with grief for losing her guardian and her partner, used her healing powers to bring him back to life."

The world spun. _They couldn't mean that I… _My vision blurred and I was vaguely aware of Alexei pulling over a chair and Dimitri guiding me back into it by my shoulders.

We were all quiet for a few moments.

When I spoke again, my mouth felt dry and I had to clear my throat a few times to speak. "They said that, where I was in the car that night, I shouldn't have survived… but I- I made it out with only a few scrapes. No one could explain it."

"For the bond to have formed," Ivan explained, "You would have had to die in the car that night and Lissa, probably overtaken by grief, triggered her specialization in reaching out to heal you. We call it being shadow kissed, because you went to the land of the shadows and returned. You've seen the afterlife."

"And I didn't even get a t-shirt," I remarked, blindly trying to bring a semblance of life into the room. Alexei chuckled, while Ivan looked at me with extreme caution and empathy. Dimitri cast his eyes to the floor, contemplative.

"What happened today in your training?" Ivan pressed.

"I was in Lissa's head again. She- well someone's playing games with her head. It's dumb. She was just upset and I couldn't get out of her head."

"Rose said that she took Vasilisa away from the Academy because these things have happened before," Dimitri picked up for me. "Someone was taunting the Princess and she took her away at the request of the Princess's magic teacher… want to guess her name?"

Ivan looked speculative. "Sonya Karp?"

It was all too weird. "Wait- what do you know about Sonya Karp?" I interrupted their exchange. "She was Lissa's mentor before we left, but she's gone now. No one will tell her anything."

Lissa had told me much in our emails, but I had written it off. Nevertheless, it was a topic she brought up several times since the first, something wasn't sitting right with her. The teachers would immediately change the subject. Her guardian would claim not to know anything and, despite her being a new arrival, her tone made it seem less than truthful.

The trio grew uncomfortable again, shifting eyes.

"There's a little more I need to tell you about my research into Spirit," Ivan admitted. "Do you remember when I said it was… forgotten?"

I nodded. These men really needed to stop beating around the bush.

"Well, I think that I'd less that it's been forgotten… and more that it's been, well, buried. Spirit isn't like the other four elements. For those, the user draws their power from the natural world, from the element itself. But with Spirit, the magic feeds off of the energy of the user."

"Which is why Lissa gets so weak after she uses it," I supplied.

"Exactly," Ivan confirmed. "Using Spirit takes the light energy-"

"The golden feeling I can feel welling up inside her when she wants to use her magic?"

"Yes. It takes that energy and it changes it into a sort of… darkness. It can present itself as a sort of madness."

"I've never seen that in Lissa, though…"

I suddenly wished Alexei would break the tension in the room with one of his usual witty remarks. Instead, he stood motionless against the wall, having removed himself from the conversation and taken up the role of guarding.

Dimitri took charge. "As Oksana and Mark explain it, a shadow kissed individual, having died and touched the shadows, is capable of pulling the darkness away from their bond mate. It may manifest in you as… uncontrollable emotions. You either have to burn through them or, as they have learned, you can wear a Spirit-infused charm to ease the effects."

I circled back to the original person in question, drawing on old memories. "Ms Karp, everyone thought she was unspecialized… but she healed me once. She didn't have anyone to help her, though. That's why everyone thought she was so strange… why we called her crazy."

Suddenly, I felt ablaze and I turned my gaze directly into Ivan's eyes. "What happened to Ms Karp?"

"She couldn't get rid of the darkness," Ivan conceded, "so she did the only thing that made sense to her. She became Strigoi."

Needless to say, we didn't do much language practice after that. My head was spinning with the information. Willingly becoming a Strigoi was so… taboo in our society. I could hardly imagine that being someone's only source of salvation.

I followed Dimitri to the _sportzal_ for our afternoon practice.

"Let's go for a run in the woods," he offered, standing from his chair once I'd come back from changing.

"Nice try," I laughed. "I've only been running on the track so far. That's just an invitation for me to get lost in the wilderness."

Dimitri smirked at me, as if the answer to my problems was so obvious at this moment. "I will be running with you today."

"Since when?" I asked as we pushed through the doors and into the lingering sunlight. A lot of the color that was usually suppressed on me had built up over the past few weeks of running outside. At least the physical exhaustion of constant running was paying off somehow. "You always make me run alone."

He shrugged, leading me towards the trails that snaked through the school's forested surroundings. The larch trees around us were slowly fading in a stunning, golden yellow as the season wore on. It was magnetizing.

"I figured you might need a longer run for processing and, if need be, someone to process with."

We set off, quiet except for our footfalls and his periodic directions when the trail split, always in Russian. They had done a good job of acclimating me to the language, but I was grateful that they still lapsed into English when we were all gathered, just to make me the most comfortable. Settling in beside me, Dimitri let me set the place, which was admittedly a bit slow as I tried to _stop myself _from thinking.

About a mile or two in, I turned to Dimitri, hanging a right around a curve as he called it. "If I take the darkness from Lissa… am I going to become like Ms Karp?" I said it quietly, barely above a whisper, but in the silence of the forest Dimitri still heard me.

"Not at all," he replied immediately, reassuring but firm. "Ms Karp and a lot of other Spirit users, they get locked away for insanity." At the look on my face, he fumbled, "Hear me out. We've met some of these users, locked away because they don't have anyone, because their madness concentrates with no release. But we've also met couples like Mark and Oksana who balance each other. Mark can pull the darkness, but Oksana can create charms powerful enough to heal it away. It's all about learning to… live with the powers that are bestowed on you both."

Dimitri allowed me to lapse into silence for another mile or so.

"So do I get any cool powers?"

"Huh?" Dimitri grunted. Then, realizing what I'd meant, he chuckled to himself. "Mark has had experiences, because of how you shadow kissed enter the world of the dead, he's had experiences communicating with ghosts."

"Talking to ghosts," I weighed. "That's pretty sick."

"Not as Mark tells us," Dimitri replied grimly. "He says it takes a really big physical toll when he lets his guard down, but that he's learned to control it with some mental barriers."

"Well I haven't seen any ghosts yet. So, I think I'm in the clear from that ability."

"Perhaps," Dimitri confirmed. "Spirit powers are variable so maybe shadow kissed powers are too. Regardless, maybe we can set up some time for you to meet the two of them. It could be helpful to get some context."

"I'd like that. I'd like to learn more about what distance can do for the bond. I'm worried for Lissa," I admitted, thinking back to the incident from earlier. "Someone is playing these cruel jokes on her and I'm not there, _immediately _at least, to do something about it."

"She'll be fine. If the Princess has you to protect her, regardless of where you are," Dimitri clarified, "she'll be fine."


	10. Chapter 10

I figured I could make it some sort of tradition – wake up early to check in with Lissa and make sure she was doing okay, shoot her an email to remind her I was still around. The only problem is that I had to get into her mind.

Usually, Lissa had to be experiencing some emotion so strongly that it crossed the threshold of her mind and took up residence in my own. Since the incident in class, I'd taken it upon myself to throw up a mental wall of sorts, fighting against any emotional wave that may try to break. That wasn't to say I wouldn't feel her strongest emotions… I just had a better means to control it.

I sat in my bed, focused on her and trying to ease the wall away, like opening a door… or meditating. Dimitri, who preached the importance of a sound mind and concentration to me day in and day out, would be proud.

Suddenly, I was in, seeing through her eyes like some sort of video game.

It almost felt like a video game too, considering how she was once again sneaking into the chapel. With all the security in that academy, you'd think they could at least put some effort into discouraging unruly teenagers from taking up residence in the chapel's attic.

Sunrise lit the stained-glass window – if I was waking up on my side of the world, it only made sense that it would be nighttime on theirs – sending jewels of light bounding off Christian's frame where he sat in the window.

"Didn't think you'd show up," he remarked. "I've been waiting for a while."

Lissa pulled a seat up beside him. "I figured Headmistress Kirova would have you for a while."

_Headmistress Kirova?_ What had Christian done this time?

He shook his head, his smirk sliding into place. "We've got a routine, by now. Suspension for a week. Not that it means much, with how easy it is to sneak out," he gestured around and then towards her, "You know as well as I do."

"Just a week?"

From where Christian sat, half turned towards the sunlight, his crystal-blue eyes were alight. "Disappointed?" he taunted.

Shock ran through Lissa, "You set someone on fire!"

_What the fuck?_

"No, I didn't," Christian scoffed. "There were no burns."

"He was covered-"

"I had them under control. I kept them off of him."

"Regardless," she sighed, "You shouldn't have done that."

Christian straightened from where he was slumped in the window, swinging his legs off and leaning towards her. "I did it for you."

"Why…" Lissa wavered.

"Mia was being a bitch but Ralf… what he was saying about you and about Rose, without her here to defend herself, it was disgusting."

Christian had defended _my _honor?

It occurred to me that Christian would probably really love, and really benefit from, Ivan's classes, or even just learning the concepts behind them. And if he had gone out of his way to protect Lissa when I couldn't, well he was earning a spot on my podium.

"You shouldn't have done that," she repeated, turning away. "Don't pretend like it was all for me, or even Rose, you _wanted _to do it. You like doing it, just because."

Christian's usual grin slipped off his face, clouded by surprise. Lissa could ready him. She could read anyone, which is why she had trusted Abe, beyond all reasonable doubt, when he'd asked her to stand down in Kirova's office.

She continued, "Offensive magic is forbidden." _If only she knew. _"That's why- you got a thrill out of it."

"Those rules are stupid," he pressed, meeting her eyes. "We could really stand a chance, you know? Moroi, I mean. If we used our magic as a weapon instead of just sitting around, useless."

"No," she said firmly. "Our magic is a gift. It's peaceful."

"Only because that's how we've been conditioned. They've drilled it into us." Christian stood, pacing the length of the room. "But it wasn't always that way, you know. We used to fight right alongside our guardians- centuries ago. People got scared and stopped, figured it was safer that way, they forgot the magic, but not everyone did. My aunt's friend is teaching people-"

"Oh, your family? Your _parents?"_

Christian's face darkened as he stepped further away from her, jaw tightening. "You don't know anything about my parents."

It occurred to Lissa, as she studied his features, that to most people, he might appear scary. To her, however, having spent the past week or so trying to pull him out of his shell with her friends, he actually looked very, very vulnerable.

"I'm sorry," she folded, softly. "You're right. I'm so sorry."

Again, Christian looked astonished. With how he was used to being treated by our larger society, apologies were probably few and far between. No one probably regarded him. Certainly no one ever listened.

He wiped any emotions away with a cocky smile. "It's fine," he dismissed, striding forward to kneel in front of her, impossibly close. Lissa held her breath, and it almost seemed like she was brimming with anticipation. "Besides, I don't think you, of _all people_, have any right to call people out on the use of forbidden magic."

Lissa was astonished, pulling back, but Christian held his ground.

"Me, 'of all people'? What does that mean?"

"You play innocent, and it fools everyone, except for me." He leaned closer, grasping the arms of her chair, caging her into her place. "You use compulsion. All of the time."

"No," she defended, pushing back on his chest.

"You do," he smirked, unmoving. "I've thought about it. How you and Rose just got away, found apartments to live in and enrolled in random schools without ever needing parents, paperwork, old transcripts. It was obvious. You had to be using compulsion… and that's probably how you even got out in the first place."

"Oh, I get it. You just guessed. No proof."

"I've got all the proof I need, Princess, just from watching you."

"What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing," he shrugged, still not pulling away. "I just like watching you. The compulsion was a bonus. You've used it in math and on Ms Carmack to get out of assignments."

"Maybe I'm just good at convincing people." Lissa could tell me over and over in our emails that they were just friends, but she delivered her words with a toss of her hair. That was flirting. And he'd noticed, just like he'd noticed everything about her.

"People get these goofy looks on their faces when you talk to them," he explained. "I didn't even know it was possible, but I saw you use it on other Moroi. It's incredible. But it also means you can't go around telling me how to use my magic."

Lissa was speechless. He was right. Everything was right – how we'd used it to secure our life outside, with humans. Probably how she was using it in her classes, something we'd have to talk about later.

"Are you going to turn me in?" she asked quietly.

"No," he smiled, shaking his head. "I think it's hot."

Her early anticipation was back, ramming into her body at full force. Integrating him into her life since she'd come back, without me around to tell her otherwise… she had a crush on him. And it seemed as though it wasn't one-sided.

"Rose thinks that you put the fox in my room," she blurted nervously.

I had _suggested _it, offhandedly.

"I sure as hell didn't," he defended himself, and I could see it was true. "I was with you when you found it Lissa."

"I know," she insisted. "I defended you, but we still don't know who did, and she was just covering all her bases."

Christian leaned back, catching her wrists in his hands. However he meant it, he stopped almost immediately, looking down in surprise and tracing faint scars with his thumb. He caught her eyes with deep compassion shining in his own.

"I can help you," he insisted. "But you need to trust me, you know something you're not telling me."

She smiled lightly, emotions swirling in her chest before she realized something. "You said something about your aunt's friend teaching… earlier when we were talking about magic. Who is that?"

"Ivan Zeklos-"

"He teaches at St Basil's."

Christian shook his head, surprised. "How did you know-"

"Rose is there," Lissa said, interrupting him again. Seeing his growing confusion. "Her dad got her in because it was remote enough that they didn't care who she was or where she had gotten kicked out of. Ivan's guardian, Dimitri is her mentor, he's catching her up."

He let out a low whistle. "My aunt is very close to those guys," he smirked.

_What was that supposed to mean?_

"Rose said Ivan's a magic historian, that he's studied the loss of various forms of magic. That's where you learned it?"

He nodded. "What are you getting at?"

Lissa hesitated. While she had pulled Christian from his solitude and into her own circle, she was still wary about her trust in him. He was so… hot and cold.

"It's about my magic," she started.

"I thought you never specialized?"

She wracked her brain for the right words. "It's less that I didn't specialize… and more that the specific magic was also forgotten, like offensive work." He nodded at her to go on. "They're calling it Spirit-"

"Like what the priest always says St Vladimir had?"

"Actually, yes," she conceded. "And Sonya Karp and some lady in Dimitri's village and… me. It sounds crazy but they've done all this research on it, and it explains my compulsion and… they said that St Vladimir had unbelievable gifts. But Ms Karp…"

"Ms Karp went mad," Christian said quietly.

"How much do you know about her?"

"Enough," Christian confirmed. "It was supposed to be hush hush but I heard some guardians talking about it once, mostly because I heard them mention my own parents. I can't say her situation was ever as… viral as theirs."

Lissa wanted to do anything she could to distract him from that, especially after her earlier comments. "So, I guess Ivan is doing all this research but, I don't know, I feel so antsy waiting around, I want to do my own digging."

Christian paused to consider this. "What are we waiting for?" he asked, gesturing to the dusty shelves of books around them. "We have everything we need right here, down to Vlad's own diaries."

A knock on my door pulled from away from Lissa's head, "Rose? You're late for practice."

I flung my door open, motioning for Dimitri to hold tight for a second. "Sorry, Comrade. Let me just send something to Lissa."

From: RosemarieMazur

To: VasilisaDragomir

He cares about you and he doesn't seem that bad… you can keep him.


	11. Chapter 11

I could hear the rumors begin to swirl around me. Over the past few days, they had become deafening.

I suppose my social situation wasn't helped by the fact that I had isolated myself, shrinking into the safety net of Ivan and his guardians from day one. No one knew exactly who I was, so they just made it up for themselves, and it didn't take complex understanding of Russian to know what they were saying. Maybe life would have been easier if I had never even studied the language, only relying on Dimitri to shelter me further.

_Where did she come from, anyway?_

_She didn't even have a lick of training, why even try?_

_Belikov won't let her train with us because he has to go easy on her to even make her look good._

_Of course, it all makes sense. Guardians Belikov only takes on FREAKS. The people who need special attention._

_What potential does he even see in her?_

More than I cared to admit, it was getting to me. Especially when it came from my fellow dhampir's mouths.

The social isolation of being away from everything that was familiar to me – food, language, _friends_ – was starting to close in. My incident with Lissa had only been the tipping point.

Suddenly, I felt as though I couldn't breathe.

Sensing the shift, likely from the way I had come to a screeching halt in the hallway as we were making our way from training to dinner, Dimitri grabbed me by the shoulder. He threw open the door to an empty classroom off the hallway we'd just been walking through, all but shoving me into a chair.

"Is Lissa okay?" he demanded.

I nodded my head weakly, that much I could confirm. She was still fast asleep in Montana, would be for a few hours.

I, on the other hand, had to get myself under control. In some ways, the time difference was the root of all my problems – I really missed having someone to talk to. Lissa was getting along, for the most part, well with our friends back home, but I was here, isolated from all of my classmates and in a new culture to boot.

I had preferred the ease of just integrating myself into Ivan's group, something which the boys had encouraged even despite my feeling like a burden on them initially. While that had cushioned me from trying to create a whole new life, without much of a story to rely on as far as how I got here, it left me with a serious lack of a shoulder to cry on, or at least woe on.

Sure, I could talk to Viktoria, and she probably wanted nothing more than for me to take the leap into our friendship, but I had really been avoiding her since the event in practice. Surely, it's all she wanted to hear details on, but I was still processing a lot of what had happened, and the information I had gleamed from Ivan, for myself.

"Breathe, Roza," he instructed, repeating himself over and over, much like the mantra.

A few minutes of silence followed before I was sufficiently calm and he spoke again.

"Talk to me. You can talk to me."

I supposed I could, Dimitri was tough on training, because he wanted me to grow, but he was also understanding. And unlike Alexei, none of his advice came with biting, sarcastic remarks. He was genuine.

But I didn't know where to start when it came to my problems, even though we had worked through the root of most of them.

"I don't want to be the weak one in class anymore," I whispered. "I'm running away from any and all social interaction at this school the least you can do is teach me to fight, to_ really_ fight. Then people could stop spewing all this shit about me."

"It's all stupid teenage nonsense," he assured me. "You have to learn to stop listening to everyone's opinions-"

"Dimitri, you're not listening to me," I pressed, insistent.

Dimitri stared into my eyes for a few moments, maybe shocked at the way I had cut him off, as if verbally pushing him away. "Are you sure you're ready?"

It was such a simple question but I felt like crying under his gaze, under the seriousness of what he meant. But, no matter what people said, no matter my own reservations about my abilities, Lissa was worth it. And she was in trouble.

"Yes. I promise. Stop teaching me how to run from everything, I want to show that I can fight it."

In that moment, it was obvious what I was asking. I wasn't just asking Dimitri to train me physically for my future career. I was asking him to train me emotionally. To give me the tools to prove everyone wrong, just as my father and I had planned.

He nodded. "I'll train you, but every school thinks that they can prepare you for what's to come. But Strigoi are so fast and strong… well you can't even imagine. We can't stop the running or the conditioning, and to build the fighting on top of that, we need more training time. It'll take up most of your time, it'll distract you from homework, and you'll be tired. A lot. And-"

"It doesn't matter," I insisted, pushing his excuses aside. "If you tell me to do it, I'll do it."

Dimitri studied me, once again making me deeply conscious of his gaze. Once he seemed satisfied, he gave a sharp, definitive nod. "We'll start tomorrow."

Alexei strode into the room, mirroring a moment only days before. He must have come looking for us between leaving the sportzal and walking to dinner, and seen us in the class window of the door.

He dropped his gaze, as if to make sure we weren't holding hands again. We weren't. "Let's go love birds," he smirked, catching me completely off guard. "Dinner awaits."

In the dining room, once everyone had settled, Dimitri turned to Ivan.

"We may have to cut the language lessons shorter," he explained to his charge. "Rose and I are going to start expanding her training."

Ivan waved him off, "No problem. Rose has made considerable strides with her language over the past weeks. She may not even need you to translate for her much longer."

I scoffed and suddenly became aware that everyone's attention had turned towards me but Ivan continued.

"Are you going to start before or after the holiday?"

"What holiday?" I asked, unaware we had one coming up.

"Next week is Unity Day," Viktoria explained.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's the best," she gushed. "We get the week off from school in celebration of a rebellion that drove the Polish occupation out of Moscow in 1612. It's like a mini fall break; we all go home and take family time, and there's a big feast."

She looked to me, as if I was supposed to rise up in excitement, but I didn't have a home to go to here. Even if I tried to visit Lissa, she wouldn't have school off, and the long journey for just a week wouldn't be worth it.

"I've arranged for you to come with us to Baia," Ivan interrupted. I swung my head to face him, awestruck.

I turned my gratitude on him. "That's so sweet, but I really can't force myself upon your families."

"Nonsense," he smiled. "We have a large cabin booked for all of us to stay in, yourself included, and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity for you to meet Mark and Oksana. We wouldn't want for you to be here alone, what with your dad on… business."

Alexei snorted from beside him and I suddenly felt like I was missing out on a joke.

"Can someone please explain to me what Abe actually does."

All of them, except for Viktoria who looked just as curious, paled in front of my eyes. Their eyes shifted between each other, as if begging,_ why don't you answer her, please_?

Ivan, ever the diplomat, answered, "He's a businessman."

I considered taking that, but the look on Alexei's face told me otherwise. So I turned to him. "Do you have a better answer? Huh?"

"Well," he began, "Ivan isn't… wrong. But let's just say he has some… interesting methods for how he runs things."

"How so?" I asked, pushing forward and hoping Alexei's loose lips would prevail.

"Let's just say he's earned the nickname… Zmey."

"That's probably enough," Dimitri interjected.

Viktoria, however, gasped in understanding at Alexei's words. Suddenly, I became aware that the entire table may know my own father better than I do.

The look Dimitri shot his sister said _no. They will not be discussing this further._

Already done with the meal, our table rose to leave, eager to avoid the topic at hand. Dimitri tried to do the same, following their lead, but I stalked after him, intent of seeing the conversation out to its very end.

As he exited the cafeteria, I grabbed onto his forearm, pulling him away from his attempts to escape with Ivan back to guest housing. His arm tightened under my grip, and I was acutely aware of just how strong he was.

"Comrade, you said I could talk to you. What does Zmey mean?"

As my translator, Dimitri was more than qualified to answer me.

He pinched his nose between his fingers, closing his eyes in frustration before answering. "Snake."

Shaking off the implications of his words, I reasoned with him. "Look, if people call my dad 'snake', it's probably in my best interest to know just why- especially when it seems like I may well have taken on a loaded last name."

Dimitri conceded to my logic, with an amendment, "People probably don't even know his real name in these parts. But what everyone said is true: your father is a businessman. It's just that he deals less in traditional or legitimate business… and more in secrets and favors."

I grasped for understanding, acknowledging that Ivan probably owed one of those aforementioned favors to Abe, considering their close connections and the fact he had all but leased Alexei for a week. Not to mention getting me the most qualified mentors in guardian history.

"So what does he have on someone like Ivan?"

"He's friends with me."

I was dumbstruck, but Dimitri continued, hushed despite the empty hallway. "Your father, many years ago, helped me dispose of someone."

Watching my eyes widen, he covered himself hastily, "Not a body. It's just that… my father was not the kindest man," he explained. "Dhampir communities are quite transient for Moroi men, but my father liked my mother, hence why there are so many of us. We're all full siblings."

That was rare.

"As I got older, I started realizing that he was visiting for more than just sex… or blood. He was using mama as his own personal punching bag," he said soberly.

"That's horrible," I said, almost reaching out to catch his hand like he had with me. Almost. "And she just let it happen."

"She did," he confirmed. "But it didn't."

"Tell me you beat his ass."

"When I got old enough, I decided to give it right back to him. I threw him out and your father made sure that he never came back."

"How old were you?"

"Thirteen."

"You beat your own father up at thirteen!?" I rolled back into my familiar habit of making light in a severe conversation. "And so the god was born."

Delightfully, he laughed, recognizing my classmates' nickname for him. When Dimitri laughed, it was like the entire world was shrouded in brightness. The same as when Lissa used her magic.

"That's all to say, that I think Ivan absorbed that debt for me. He became Abe's go-to guy when we graduated. He was the one who allowed us to travel to learn about magic, and Ivan was allowed to conduct his more legitimate business on the way."

"That was probably my doing," I mused. "Abe knew Lissa had specialized, despite it all. He just wanted to learn more about it."

He considered it for a second, then conceded. "I suppose you're right."

"And that's why he so easily inserted me into your lives."

"Regardless," Dimitri said quickly, before fizzling, as if he'd forgotten what he was going to say.

"Thanks for arranging for me to go home with you guys," I offer in his place. "I can really stay if it's too much-"

"Not at all." He pauses for a second before admitting, "Mama is looking forward to meeting you."


	12. Chapter 12

I should've known better than to think that Dimitri would delay revving up our schedule until after the break. Though, I suppose that was a good thing.

We now spent an additional two hours of practice together, split before and after school. He had taken his intensity up a notch, allowing me to see more of the reason for his godlike, or _bozhyectvo_, reputation around here. He was _good. _Even while holding back, I could see that he had earned his six molnija marks in as many years, and I burned to have him guide me to that level.

Today, Dimitri was wearing a t-shirt and running pants that were quite… accentuating. More than the experience I was gaining, I looked forward to my extra practices because, ignoring the fact that we spent so much time together while he translated in my classes – something becoming less and less frequent the more I learned – I was happy to spend more time with him.

Rose Hathaway Mazur had a crush. In other circumstances, say at St Vladimir's, I probably could've had that person in a heartbeat. But this was different, and that much more frustrating. I punched myself internally, _calm down, Rose._

We stood facing each other on the mat. "What's the first problem you'll encounter when up against a Strigoi?"

"Immortality, maybe."

"_Bolye prostoy_." (More basic)

More basic than their near-inability to die? "They're probably bigger, stronger than me," I guessed in Russian.

Dimitri had said so himself, in preparing me for how rigorous these trainings would get. If I wanted to protect Lissa from the undead, I was going to have to train hard to make up the innate learning curve we already faced as well as overcome the one I set upon myself in losing the last few years of training.

"So it's difficult, but not impossible. As long as you're self-aware and quick thinking, you can usually use someone's height and weight against them."

I was willing to bet that Alexei and Dimitri sparring together was a sight to behold, Alexei trying to use Dimitri's height against him while Dimitri tried to leverage the other's weight.

"Remind me to check out you and Alexei in action someday," I mentioned offhandedly to him, watching Dimitri demonstrate how to use my shorter stance to my advantage. It was funny to see him act as though it were physically possible for _him_ to encounter anyone taller than him. That person would have to be a mountain.

He seemed to consider it. "It'll be a good demonstration for you," he conceded. "We'll set it up at home."

For the remainder of the practice, I went through the motions with him, allowing him to adjust my stance and techniques as needed. Dimitri would have me mimic each technique over a dozen times, always with perfect form, before he allowed me to move on to the next just so he could enforce it into my muscle memory. I absorbed them pretty quickly, if I did say so myself, understanding which each new move what was allowing my classmates to get the upper hand in practice. While I was simply flailing my body out, they were practiced, calculated. Soon, I hoped, I'd get the drop on someone.

As the end of our training neared, he let me test the work out.

"_Udari menya_." (Hit me)

Though we'd practiced more than enough in my group classes, I'd never actually had any skills to back myself up, so he didn't have to tell me twice.

I lunged forward, hoping to land a blow on his shoulder. Like usual, I was blocked and knocked to the mat, the wind knocked out of me. Rather than give him the satisfaction of helping me, I sprang up, hoping my quick recovery would surprise him. Not a chance.

Several ill-fated attempts followed. I dropped my hands in frustration, chest heaving as I pulled back. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing."

I scoffed. "Considering you've blocked nearly every single my hits, there has to be something."

"Your moves are correct and your form is good, maybe a bit tired, but this is your first time using them. I've been doing this for years."

"_Horosho, dyedushka_. Let's keep going. " (Okay, grandpa)

"We'll have plenty of time to practice over break," he smirked. It hardly surprised me that he was going to expect me to continue our training while on break, so I didn't give him the satisfaction of my frustration, simply rolling my eyes. "Anyway, you should probably go pack if we're going to leave after dinner."

"How do you know I haven't already packed?"

Dimitri snorted. "I've known you for a month by now, Rose. I know you."

Something about the way he said that made my stomach twist. Stupid crush.

He turned to walk off, over to where our jackets and bags were set on the wall. With his back exposed, I suddenly felt the opportunity of a lifetime.

Using what we'd just practiced, I leaped at him. I figured Dimitri was mentally prepared for practice to be over, so I had the element of surprise; he wouldn't even expect it.

Maybe he had mentally prepared for practice to be over, but his reflexes were always working round the clock. Before I could even get within a foot of him, he spun around at time-defying speed. In one fluid motion, he had me on the ground, pinning me down by the torso and wrists.

"That was perfect," I groaned.

He looked down to my face, lightly pushing my wrists into the mat. During most practices, he operated like some sort of drill sergeant – likely why I was always trying to make him laugh with witty commentary – but now he had softened. He gave me a soft smile.

"Try it without the battle cry next time."

"You probably would have reacted just a quickly without it."

He chuckled, that golden light radiating from him. "Surely."

Dimitri was the best case scenario for any mentor I could have gotten, what with the entire student population believing he was an undefeatable god. His skills went beyond the good foot of height and considerable weight he had on me. He was strong, hard but lean, completely unlike how Alexei presented to the world. If, by some chance in the world, I could ever rise up to beat _him_, I might just become invincible.

It occurred to me that he was still holding me down. His fingers caressing my wrists, pressing them into the mat with a warm, gentle weight. His face hovered just above my own, smiling down at me where I was caught under him, caged by the long length of his torso and legs.

He blinked slowly, as if he were noticing me for the first time. _Really _noticing me.

Dimitri had taken his hair out of its low bun while walking over to the mats and it now hung around his face. If he were just a bit closer, just a bit lower, it would tickle my face.

Suddenly aware of just the position we were in, my breathing grew shallow. _Damn he smelled good._

_What were we doing? What was he thinking?_

Several times since I had sat down and told him about the bond, I had noticed Dimitri looking at me with this… unreadable expression. Almost as if he was studying me. Or admiring me.

Never in our training sessions; he was always regimented with those. But sometimes, when he looked over at me in class to check if I needed an explanation on anything, or when we were just walking in the hallways, or when we were all sat at lunch, while I was mid banter with Alexei, I would notice. He'd let his guard down. Let one of those golden laughs free. Or better yet, he would smile at _me._

Dimitri smiling was a sight to behold. Most frequently, he'd give only a half, a quirk of the right side of his mouth. But when he _truly _smiled… well "gorgeous" was too diminutive to describe him in those moments.

I tried to calm my breathing, grasping for something to say. "Anything else you need to show me?"

He looked shocked for a moment then gaped, like he was looking for something to say to me. Then, he shoved his full, stoic guardian mask on, shoving any previous emotion aside. He rolled to the side of me, reaching to pull me up with him.

"Bring your bags to dinner, we're leaving straight from there."

Baia was only a few hours away from St Basil's, but it was a journey best traveled during the daylight, or at least the remnants of it as the nights got longer this time of year.

While the town itself was pretty safe, the roads leading away from the larger city of Omsk were notorious hunting grounds for Strigoi. Baia, like many human towns with secret dhampir subpopulations, ran on a regular human daylight schedule. It made sense through and through for us to leave after dinner, arrive sometime around lunch, and force ourselves to adjust to the schedule.

Dimitri drove, something Alexei didn't argue with as he quickly fell asleep on the other side of the backseat. Viktoria, a saint, had taken the middle seat.

Outside of the academy, Dimitri and Alexei were going to fall into traditional guarding techniques, with one working while the other wasn't. Complicated by his training schedule with me, Dimitri had taken the daytime shift, and Ivan would accompany us to our practices, or else occupy himself by learning more about spirit with Mark and Oksana.

I was antsy to meet the pair of them. They could hold so many secrets for helping Lissa, no matter how far away I was. In particular, I was looking forward to speaking to Mark about that.

I couldn't check in with Lissa, she would barely be waking up at this point in her day, so I decided to rest until we got to town. Hopefully, my exhaustion from extra practices would allow me to force myself into the new schedule like Alexei was attempting.

I slept on and off most of the ride, usually interrupted by Ivan and Dimitri talking in hushed voices from the front of the car. Usually, I wouldn't be above eavesdropping, but I really needed to make this rest last for something.

The home the boys rented in Baia was just around the corner from the actual Belikov residence. We arrived just before lunch and Viktoria made quick work of grabbing her suitcase and disappearing down the street, bound for home.

"They have enough room at home that it makes sense for her to stay there," Dimitri said as I watched her hook down a street, disappearing past a small home. In the daylight, there was nothing to worry about. He passed me my duffel bag and closed the trunk in one fluid motion. "There's space but the three of us are always a lot more than we want to impose on them."

"They have enough room that you could stay there too, if you wanted," Ivan said from the front of the house, where he was helping Alexei get inside. "We just figured, with your training schedule, you'd want to be near Dimitri."

"For all the surprise drills he's going to pull on you," Alexei shouted.

I paled, looking to Dimitri in horror. He just laughed. "He was just joking."

The house itself was one story, compact and homey. Ivan stayed on the porch, illuminated in the mid-day sun while Alexei stepped into the kitchen, keeping his eye on their charge, and Dimitri made his way down a hallway with four doors. I watched as they dipped into each room, taking stock of each and moving onto the next.

The first was a simple bathroom. The rest, three bedrooms with large beds. I watched as Dimitri flitted around the second one, checking up the bed and into the closet before deeming it safe to exit.

I stood next to its doorway, watching him repeat the process in the final bedroom.

"All clear, Ivan," Dimitri yelled as he finished his sweep, less than a minute after Alexei had confirmed the same for the rest of the small cottage. I turned to see Ivan striding in, bag in tow. "You can take Alyosha's usual room. It's the one you're standing in."

"Oh I don't want to take his room," I reasoned. "I can just sleep on the couch, or maybe I could just stay with your family."

"It's no problem, we'll be switching off guarding duty anyway. We'll never be asleep at the same time."

"Baia is safe enough," Ivan said, coming down the hallway with Alexei hot on his heels. He took the room at the end of the hall, a larger master suite fit for a royal Moroi. "But we still don't take any precautions."

"Besides," Alexei said as he emerged from the first room, having slung his bag down next to Dimitri's. "No one is going to ask you to spend more time with Yeva Belikova that you need to."

"Is this your psychic babushka?" The two Belikovs had told plenty of stories about their family since I'd arrived a few months ago, though Dimitri had usually done so only with Viktoria's lead. They had only become more frequent since I'd agreed to stay with them over the break.

He nodded. "She's not that bad. You'll see."


	13. Chapter 13

The walk to the Belikov family home, though barely three blocks, felt like a lifetime where my nervousness was concerned.

Dimitri led the way, practically bouncing with excitement to see his family. Alexei, meanwhile, busied himself with telling me some of Yeva's greatest hits.

"Did you know she called us, right before the attack? She told us that we were on the eve of changing our world's order."

He was referring to the Strigoi attack that had nearly claimed their lives; when they'd been outnumbered and Ivan's use of fire offensively, something that was nearly taboo in our society, had saved all of their lives.

Ahead of us, Ivan chuckled. "She told _me _that I had to make the choice between going against the status quo, or nothing altogether. Guess, in retrospect, that nothing really meant nothing, as in I would have died.

"She told Alyosha, when he felt left out that he hadn't gotten a prophecy like Dima and I, not to be an idiot."

Ignoring Alexei's rising protests, I addressed Dimitri. The midday sun shone down on all of us and he seemed to be glowing in the warm light. "What did she tell you?"

Dimitri paused. "I was supposed to be taking a trip home, the day of the attack," he admitted. "She told me that if I came home, I would lose everything I knew, but I would gain much more despite the pain. If I cancelled the trip, she couldn't guarantee that I would ever be able to regain what I had given up. It didn't matter though, they come first."

"What did you give up?"

He shrugged, eyes meeting mine and he held open a gate for all of us to enter through. "I guess I'll never know."

The Belikov home was just a cozy as I imagined a small family home could be. As soon as we entered, I was hit by the smells of spices and baked bread lingering in the air. A chorus of voices rose from the living room beside the entryway, and Dimitri moved to wrap his arms around a kind looking woman that I could only assume was his mother Olena.

"Uncle Dimka," a high voice exclaimed. I saw a blur run down the stairs and fling itself at Dimitri's leg. Once it had settled, I could see a small boy about ten years old get scooped for a hug.

"I didn't get that warm of a welcome," Viktoria remarked, moving beside me. It was a welcome comfort in this room full of familiar, yet new faces.

In all of them, I could see Dimitri. None of them outright looked like his carbon copy, but I could see their shared features.

Having moved through hugging Ivan and Alexei, Olena stood in front of me, her warm brown eyes nearly identical to her son's. "I've heard so much about you," she exclaimed, wrapping me into a hug.

I was surprised, to say the least, unfamiliar with familial interaction. I hadn't been hugged in what felt like a lifetime; since Lissa had seen me off on the tarmac and, last, when Abe had bid me farewell at St Basil's.

Olena pulled me further into the living room, where each of Dimitri's family members stood ready to receive the guests.

I could pick out Karolina, Paul's mother and Dimitri's oldest sister, easily. In her arms, she held a teeny baby, obviously very new to the world, who must be Zoya, Dimitri's newest niece. To her side stood Sonya, who rushed forward to hug her brother. Then, pushing herself up from a rocking chair adorned with cushions, there was Yeva.

The eldest Belikova woman shuffled over to her grandson, placing a wrinkled hand on his arm and speaking to him in faster Russian than I could even try to understand. He glanced to me, rolling his eyes and it figured that he could tell she was probably doing it on purpose. Of the words I caught, I didn't really understand what they meant, so I didn't bother trying to follow along.

Seeing Yeva measured up to Dimitri was even more comical than the difference in stature between him and Alexei. He stooped to bring himself closer to her. She stood five foot nothing and looked as if she was going to keel over at any moment. Her back rounded in on itself slightly and, even through layers of shawls, I could see that she was so thin even a breeze might cause her to break before our eyes.

Despite her frail body, her dark eyes regarded everything with tremendous alertness. They held knowledge and a stony skepticism that, in this moment, was trained right on me.

We stared at each other a moment, her eyes never leaving mine. "I'm Rose," I said to her in Russian.

"Ya znayu," she barked, turning to move down the hallway in the direction of what I could only guess was the kitchen. _She knows._

"Don't you worry about my mother," Olena spoke to me, looping her arm in mine and leading me in the same direction, the rest of the family following behind us. "She's a tough old bird, but she doesn't bite. I, for one, am so glad you're here. How do you like Russian food?"

I laughed, welcomed by her warmness as she steered me to sit at the head of a table overflowing with plates. A platter in the center held something that looked like a savory stuffed cabbage covered in tomato sauce that I had had before. _Golubsty_, I remembered. Next to it, a plate held thick slices of the black bread I had come to love at St Basil's.

"We get some in the dining commons at school, I've liked most of it."

"Roza quite likes the black bread at school," Dimitri continued as he took a seat across from me. "But I told her that yours will make her realize that she hasn't had real black bread yet."

Something fluttered inside me. Dimitri so rarely called me by the Russian equivalent of my name, that it felt almost intimate to me.

Of course, Alexei didn't know that. "Roooooza," he sing-songed. Viktoria chuckled from her place at the table, but Ivan shot daggers at him. The shorter guardian always had a way to ruin a moment.

Olena let the whole interruption roll off her, placing a large piece of the bread on my plate and leaning to get the butter. "It's still warm, and there's no greater joy than salted butter on fresh bread in good company."

Under her gaze, I slathered some of the creamy butter on the heavy bread in my hand. I passed the butter back to her, only now realizing that everyone was looking at me expectantly.

I blushed under their gaze, but took a large bite regardless. I'd come to love the bread served at St Basil's, but knew as soon a bit of Olena's loaf hit my tongue, that the store bought alternative they served would forever be underappreciated by my taste buds. This was the real deal.

I hummed in delight, eager to be done with the bite only so I could wax poetic about the loaf to its baker. But with every crew, a new complexity revealed itself to me. Sour pumpernickel cut with rich molasses. Cocoa and coffee melted together underneath it all. It was divine.

"Mrs Belikova," I whispered. "You have to give me this recipe."

She laughed, everyone reaching to fill their own plates once the spectacle had ended. "Oh dear, you can call me Olena. It's a family recipe, but you just might be worthy of the secret."

Lunch had settled down and been cleaned up, but everyone stayed at the table, broken off into smaller groups for the standard catch-up. My conversation with Ivan and Karolina broke away, so I excused myself, trying to find a bathroom for a quiet moment.

Instead, I moved to the living room, leaving the noise and bustle of the kitchen for the quieter room near the front of the home.

I had lived at the academy from a young age, dumped off by a mother eager to return to the career she'd built for herself, so I had no clear memories of having lived anywhere else. Even on the occasions I'd spent with the Dragomir's, who became like a second family to me after I befriended Lissa, there had always been an air to their home that made it feel like it was only for display. Everything had been so clean it felt disrespectful to even breathe.

The Belikov home, by contrast, felt lived in. In the best way.

The soft couches in the living room were draped with homemade blankets, probably knit by Yeva's own hands. The walls and tables were adorned with family photos. I moved towards the far wall, where a large wooden bookshelf leaned, filled with old, leather-covered books. I ran my finger unconsciously over gold-embossed lettering on the spines, each meant for a different place in the world, as best I could read.

Someone entered the room behind me and I was surprised to turn and see Yeva of all people staring back at me, the same eyes that hadn't left me throughout lunch boring a hole into me once more.

I suppose I hadn't left the kitchen to escape the noise so much as I'd left it to escape her stare. No such luck.

"Hello," I spoke to her in Russian, unsure what she wanted from me.

Yeva shuffled over to take a seat in the rocking chair. The carpet beneath the legs was worn from use, making the whole image seem like a scene from a movie. When she finally spoke, her words surprised me. "I've been waiting to meet you Rose."

"Excuse me?"

"In a different world," she spoke cryptically. "Our meeting would not have been pleasant. But this world, right now, holds so much potential."

Just then, Dimitri turned the corner, taking in the room with surprise. We were probably the last two people he expected to see together. "I was just looking for you, Rose. Is Yeva bothering you?"

He was joking, but Yeva let it roll right past.

"Yes you have been, Dimka," she answered cryptically. Dimitri whipped his head to meet his grandmother's eyes, frowning.

"What do you mean we would have met in a different world?" I pressed, ignoring whatever she might have meant to Dimitri.

"Let's not dwell on things that never happened," she offered, eyes staring stonily into mine. If I looked close enough, it almost seemed as if she was smirking. "We can only control how time moves forward, now. You have someone to meet." Yeva turned towards Dimitri. "Make sure she goes to see Oksana tonight. Not too early, or the timing won't be right. Sometime after your training and dinner."

"It'll be too late," Dimitri started to protest. "We were planning on tomorrow."

"Tomorrow will be too late. They'll know you're coming."

Yeva Belikova was honestly, really getting on my last nerve. She didn't seem to have a straightforward answer to anything she said.

I followed Dimitri back towards the kitchen, where he told me his mom had set out some dessert and wanted to learn more about me.

"Your grandmother told me… that she's been waiting to meet me. What does that mean?"

He fumbled. "I mean, I've told Mama about you… but that would be too simple for Babushka."

Something about the way Dimitri said he told him mom about me made me forget all my worries. I smiled up at him, thoughtful.

"Don't pay her any mind," he assured me. "Sometimes it doesn't mean anything at all."


	14. Chapter 14

The good thing about being on a human schedule in Baia was that Lissa and I were awake at the same time. With the twelve hour time difference, we usually were running directly opposite of each other, hence why I had taken to observing her nights just before Dimitri and I's early morning practices. This week, with time turned on its head, I had leeway to see through her eyes during more consequential moments.

_Consequential_, to say the least, because for Lissa, it was Friday night on All Saint's Day. And Queen Tatiana Ivashkov had just entered the building.

Through Lissa's eyes, I could see that the cafeteria at St Vladimir's had been transformed into an elegant banquet hall for her visit.

The queen looked the picture of royalty, a crown nestled on top of cascading silver waves. Tatiana glided effortlessly through the rows of kneeling students, smiling politely to dhampirs and then stopping to speak with some of the more favorable royal Moroi.

I felt alarm bubble up in Lissa as the Queen stopped in front of her, "Vasilisa Dragomir."

Lissa wanted so much to just shrink back into the tiny cocoon of safety she'd made since she got back. Christian and Natalie were on either side of her, but it's not like either of them, least of all Christian, could reach out to her at the moment.

"We heard you'd returned. So good to have the Dragomirs back, even if only one remains. We deeply regret the loss of your family, it was a true a tragedy, they were among the finest of the Moroi."

The Queen smiled down on Lissa. She was speaking with that annoying royal _we_ that was customary in her position, representing the entirety of her race. Lissa cringed at the mention of her family, but smiled back weakly.

She paused, as if considering something. "You have an interesting name. So many heroines in Russian literature have your name. Vasilisa the Brave. Vasilisa the Beautiful. All the young women who hold that name, different though they may be, have the same wonderful qualities: strength, discipline, intelligence, virtue… they are able to triumph over their adversaries and accomplish great things.

"Your surname also commands its own respect. Dragomir kings and queens reigned as some of the best monarchs in history. They have fought beside their own guardians and used their powers for miraculous ends." If only Tatiana knew the _true_ weight of her words.

Lissa could feel the weight of the room shift around her. Everyone was holding their breath, hanging on every word of praise. Pride rose up in Lissa, for her family and for herself.

"Hmm," Tatiana continued, "you are doubly named with power and grace. But, as you have so clearly shown us, names do not make a person. They cannot control how one might turn out," Tatiana turned to look Christian once over, "or the company you keep."

Lissa's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach, in time with the collective shock throughout the room. She was _mortified_. With a tight-lipped smirk, Tatiana turned on her heel and walked away.

"Oh no, Lissa," I whispered to myself.

The four of us - Dimitri, Ivan, Alexei and I – had settled on the large couch when we'd gotten back, stuffed from dinner and taking a moment to rest before going to visit Mark and Oksana.

Dimitri had been reading a book beside me but I felt him reach out to touch my arm. "Is the Princess okay?"

"Yeah," I said, fumbling for words. _Why not the truth? _"Tatiana is a bitch."

Everyone snickered, Alexei the loudest. "You're safe from her here," he said. "She makes, _what_? One visit a year?"

"I'll have to go into hiding."

I sunk back into Lissa. She'd left the banquet hall early, rushing out as people rose to take their seats for dinner.

Christian had slipped outside after Lissa and they now sat in a courtyard. Glints of morning light filtered through an ornate wooden roof, meant to protect Moroi. Despite the shield they provided, trees and plants lined the edges, reaching their bare branches to outwards for light.

In the center, a water feature, empty for winter, lay guarded by a large statue of St Vladimir himself. Carved out of the same grey rock as the buildings, he looked every bit like a Russian saint, with long facial hair and cascading robes. How they could make the stone look like it had movement was beyond me.

They were silent before Christian spoke. "She's wrong. Tatiana is…" he probably was reaching to call her a bitch, just like me, but thought better of it, "well she's just not right. Don't let her get to you."

"Kind of late for that."

"She just liked feeling like she has that power over all of us."

"No, she's right," Lissa sighed. "My parents, Andre… they would have hated who I've become."

"No, they would have understood."

"I was so irresponsible, if-"

"If your parents were around, they would have helped you. With compassion. With reason. They wouldn't have allowed you to go one feeling so unsafe. They would have gotten to the bottom of it. You and Rose leaving, it was just that."

"Andre was so much better at the politics of everything," she sighed, wistfully.

Christian scoffed. "You don't give yourself enough credit on that. Even without the compulsion, people are drawn to you. You're… magnetic."

Lissa whipped her face around to meet Christian's eyes. They stood there, looking at each other levelly, his filled with warmth and _understanding_. Christian, of all people, knew what it was like to be cast off by our society.

I didn't need to be there right now. He was the best person for the job.

Something twisted inside me. _Jealousy_, I realized with a bitterness.

* * *

We decided to visit Mark and Oksana all together.

The couple was a wealth of knowledge for Ivan, on a research level, and Alexei was officially on guard. Dimitri, on the other hand, was just stubborn.

I urged him to stay behind, insistent. "You haven't slept in more than 36 hours."

"I'm a professional guardian, Rose," he countered. "It's in the job description and I'll sleep when we get back."

"But-"

"You're going to want to give up," Ivan said, slinging on a scarf at the front of the house. "He won't budge."

I huffed, mad I wouldn't be getting my way on this issue. I was stubborn, but Dimitri just might have me beat.

We set off towards the couple's home. They lived a few miles outside of town, but the rental car made quick work of it.

Their house was a small one-story cabin in the middle of the woods. Even in the dark, I could see brightly colored shutters painted in designs that reminded me of photos of traditional Russian architecture Dimitri had shown off to me once.

Ivan knocked on the door. In the ensuing silence, despite Yeva assuring us she'd called ahead, I worried that maybe we had arrived too late – that everyone was already in bed. The early setting sun made it feel later than it was.

A pretty Moroi woman with strawberry-blond hair greeted us, her cheekbones reaching hire as she took in the group. "Come in, come in," she corralled us inside in Russian, smiling at each of us as we walked inside. When she made eye contact with me, her smile faltered, but came back even wider.

"Rose can understand most Russian," Ivan explained to her. "But she may be more comfortable if we speak in English."

"I haven't quite learned the intricacies of speaking about the bond in Russian," I joked sheepishly.

"Oh, of course," she responded, moving to shake my hand. "I'm Oksana. Mark, my husband, is just cleaning up in the kitchen."

On command, a tall, stocky man moved into the living room. While Oksana seemed to be in her thirties, his silver hair belied an older age. Stranger, even, he was a dhampir. I considered the possibility that maybe this wasn't her husband, maybe this was their guardian, but Oksana introduced him as the one and only and it came with a sharp realization: they were a Moroi and dhampir married couple. Our races intermingled all the time, the longevity of the dhampir race and the presence of Baia alone was enough to confirm this. But marriage? It was scandalous.

I tried not to let my surprise show, but Alexei watched me with knowing eyes.

Oksana and Mark watched me curiously while entertaining simple formalities such as asking Ivan what he'd been up to.

"Yeva warned us that you would be coming by tonight," Oksana mused. "But she didn't exactly explain why."

Ivan laughed. "No, she's usually not so forthcoming is she? We were going to visit tomorrow to discuss everything at a more reasonable time, but she insisted we come tonight. We're so sorry for the interruption."

Oksana waved him off politely. "No worries at all. I suspect it might have something to do with you, Rose."

I nodded shyly. "The boys told me that you're bonded."

The couple shared a knowing glance before fixing their eyes on me. Oksana seemed to scrutinize me and then, after a brief flare of shock across her face, affirmed, "So are you."

"How could you know that?"

Oksana smiled softly. "There's something called auras. They're like rings of light that surround people, display emotions, tell you a little bit about a person's character. The shadow kissed have a distinct aura around them."

"What sets them apart?" Ivan asked, scribbling into his notebook. Always the scholar.

"There's always a dark ring around the edges," she elaborated. "An aftershock of touching death. Hasn't your bondmate seen that? Where are they?"

I shivered and moments passed. "Lissa can't see auras. Or at least, she's never tried to. She's back in the US… we got separated."

A look of deep sympathy took over the pair's faces, and I saw them reach to grab each other. A strange feeling floated through my mind, fluttering, a rush of heat and cold. I shivered and Dimitri shot me a soft look.

Across the room, Mark shot Oksana a scolding look, and I realized that they were probably having a conversation amongst themselves.

Breaking away his eyes from her, Mark looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry. It's invasive and _inappropriate_ to do it to someone you aren't bonded to," he said, scolding Oksana with a glance to her. Seeing my confused expression, he explained, "She just brushed your mind."

"_What_?" I exclaimed.

Having worked with the couple before, Ivan, Alexei and Dimitri didn't look surprised in the slightest. Dimitri looked guarded.

"I have the ability to go into someone's mind and… search it," she explained. "I'm sorry, but I wanted to be sure about what was going on. Absence isn't good for a bonded pair. It can only increase the strain of the shadow-kissed darkness."

We sat in silence for a moment, considerate, before I turned to Mark. "What else can you, _we _do? Dimitri said you've run into ghosts."

Taking the change of pace in stride, Mark smiled sadly, "Hopefully you never have to experience the same."

"Why is that?"

"It's… dangerous. People like us, the shadow kissed, we walk a tightrope above darkness and insanity. Opening yourself up to the dead brings you closer to falling over, losing your mind. I had to learn to control the ghosts, prevent them from coming."

"Just like the bond? I'm getting better at not getting pulled in, but sometimes-"

"You have to learn to keep your control," he pressed. "No matter the circumstances. Vasilisa is better served by a guardian than can stay out of her mind and in the present."

We were silent for a moment. "That makes sense," I admitted. "What about do you mean we walk a tight rope between darkness and insanity? Ivan has mentioned that to me before, the darkness. Can you tell me more about that?"

"You haven't experienced any mood flaring? Bouts of rage or incontrollable emotions?" Mark asked.

I shook my head. "I mean, maybe. But I've always been reckless, according to most."

Mark pressed on. "How much magic is your bondmate using?"

"Nothing, really," I responded after a moment's consideration. "She's healed things before and gotten super depressed about it, but she's still in school and the worst she does is compel a teacher to extend her deadline."

I could swear I heard Alexei mutter a soft, "Genius," from beside me.

"That's good," Oksana affirmed. "You have to make sure she keeps her magic use to a minimum. The darkness can only bleed into you and affect you."

"It's kind of hard," I countered. "Being so far away from her."

"Yes, but you have found ways to help her besides all of that." Of course, Oksana had seen our dynamic through her mind prodding.

Suddenly, I felt a familiar sensation, the pulse of emotions coming to me from beyond my own mind. Lissa. She was scared and upset and alone.

As I zoned out of the conversation, the irony of Mark having just touted the benefits of staying present and out of her mind didn't escape me.


	15. Chapter 15

Scared and upset and alone. These feelings weren't aftershocks from the Queen's humiliation. Something was terribly wrong with Lissa.

I gasped, jolted from the conversation and into her head.

Back in Oksana's home, I could feel Dimitri grab my arm, but worried chants of _Rose. Roza. Roza? _were lost to me.

"No no no," I agonized, taking in the scene playing out in front of my eyes.

Lissa was frozen in the doorway to her bedroom, just getting back from spending time with Christian away from the banquet. After weeks of no pranks or surprises, here was the worst surprise anyone could have sprung on her.

My stomach heaved. There, in the center of her and Natalie's room, was some… creature. Lissa's own thoughts confirmed it was a rabbit of some kind, but I didn't know how she could possibly tell.

All I could focus on was blood. Blood slowly crawling outwards on the wooden floor. Chunks of fur torn open and globs of gore I didn't want to look closer at. Lissa was trained on it. She crept closer, dropping to her knees in front of the thing. Blood reached for her beautiful dress, one she had borrowed from Natalie for the night.

I felt the familiar golden light well up inside me.

"Don't do it Lissa," I chanted to myself, to no avail. Load of good a one-way bond could serve in times of crisis.

I felt the same fluttering sensation, hot and cold, as I had earlier – Oksana was brushing my mind again. She was seeing with me.

Behind Lissa, we could vaguely register Natalie's cheerful voice, "Lissa, I've been looking for you." She cut herself off, her usually bubbly tone draining from her voice, because unwinding before her eyes was a miracle.

Lissa reached out, putting her hands on the creature. It twitched, pieces of itself seeming to knit back together. But the rabbit was too far gone. No amount of magic could save something that… dead.

She sat backwards, crumpling a note that lay next to the creature in her hand, and backing away, trying to get as much distance as she could between her and the animal. Lissa wiped tears from her eye, but in doing so, smeared some of the blood on her fingers onto her face. She flinched into herself.

Natalie caught her, dropping to her knees and soothing her. "We should get this cleaned up," she said, the most serious and unflinching I'd ever heard her. "No one can know about this."

Lissa was silent, shocked as she sat, frozen. When Natalie ran out the door, she uncurled her fist, uncrumpling the blood-stained paper she'd hastily grabbed from beside the mess. It was so saturated it was nearly impossible to read.

_I know what you are. You won't survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave now. It's the only way you might make it out alive._

Natalie snuck back in, arms full of paper towels and one of the large black bags that lined the bathroom trash bins. Lissa moved to help her, concealing the note in one of the paper towels as she dragged it through the mess, attempting to help clean up. There was no use for it now. The damage had been done.

Together, she and Natalie made quick work of the mess. Natalie had the forethought to grab some of the all-purpose cleaner that the custodians kept under the cabinets. With it, the room almost looked exactly as they'd left it.

Almost, but not quite. That much was clear as Lissa looked down at herself, blood smeared on her hands and the skirt of the dress. "I'm sorry about your dress," she told Natalie robotically.

"Don't be," Natalie gasped, moving to cradle Lissa's face gently in her hands, like a mother admiring their child. It was bizarre. "Take it off, throw it in this bag, and get cleaned up. I'll talk to my daddy while you're showering and we'll get this all straightened out, alright? No one else has to know about it."

Lissa nodded blindly. She was numb. At the same time, she was freaking out. _Who was doing this to her? Had Natalie seen what she'd tried to do? Why couldn't all the pain just go away?_

She moved around the room, gathering exactly what she needed for a shower. Towel. Robe. Soap. Unexpectedly, she grabbed her razor.

Why would she need to shave after something like this?

I gasped, pulling myself from Lissa's head in a desperate search for help.

"Oksana you need to help me," I plead.

"What was going on, Rose?" She asked wary and horrified.

I registered Dimitri's hand, grasping mine and stroking it. When I looked in his eyes, they held overwhelming empathy and _fear._ Painstakingly, I tore my eyes away from his, seeking out Mark.

"How do you take the darkness?" I pleaded with him.

"Rose, that's not a good idea-"

"No, Mark. You _need_ to tell me. I _have _to help Lissa."

Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair. I felt antsy. Every second I wasn't with Lissa was a second where she was closer to hurting herself. She had started cutting every so often since the accident and I didn't understand it. It scared me. I'd found her once, when we were away from the academy, blood dripping from her wrists. She tried to explain to me, how it wasn't about death so much as it was about _release._ Sometimes, she just needed a physical outlet to get all of the grief inside of her out. It was the only way she could get it all out.

"Okay," he conceded. I let out a rush of air that I didn't know I was holding. "You have to concentrate on her, on the emotions she is feeling. You have to will them into yourself, like you're pulling them out of her."

With a nod, I found myself back in Lissa's head. She had just turned the shower on, stepping under the icy blast as if it was any other temperature of water. As the water warmed, she moved to clean herself, and I knew what her intentions were once she'd gotten all the blood off.

With great effort, I concentrated harder on her. On the emotions rolling out from her that pulled me in in the first place. On the surface, she was numb. Underneath it all, she was scared. She was hurting. She was… on edge. I held onto those emotions, willing them away from her and into myself.

Suddenly, it worked. Her emotions hit me like a ton of bricks but I could feel her lighten up, beginning to take stock of what was really going on.

"Rose?" She asked aloud. I was already gone.

When I came to, Mark was nowhere to be seen. Oksana was crouched in front of me, reaching out to hold the hand that Dimitri didn't have a grasp on.

I felt a bitterness rising up in me, and I shook both of them off. "Get off of me," I whispered.

Dimitri attempted to protest, but I shot him a stony glare. Surprised, he shut up.

"Leave me alone," I said firmly as Oksana reached out to grab me again.

"I swear, Rose," she pressed. "I can help you."

I scoffed. "The only thing that will help this is finding the bastard who keeps doing this to her."

Just then, Mark reentered the room, holding a small jewelry box. "You have to trust me," Oksana plead, reaching out for my hand. I allowed her to take it.

Being on the receiving end of healing magic wasn't something you ever got used to. When Ms Karp had healed me back at the academy, it had been unexpected, something I had never thought possible since I hadn't been awake when Lissa had healed me initially. On account of being dead, of course.

Now, even in the short burst, I could savor it. Much like when I felt the feeling well up in Lissa, it was golden. Hot and cold, just like when Oksana brushed my mind. And gone all too soon.

It felt as though a weight had been physically lifted from my shoulders, though I still felt affected by the weight of what I'd just seen. I glanced at her and Dimitri with remorse, holding neither's gaze, afraid it might cause tears to start forming in my eyes. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"You're fine," Oksana hummed, reaching behind her to scoop a silver ring from the jewelry box Mark had brought to us. Dimitri was silent beside me.

"I know the feeling," Mark assured me. "When you take your bondmate's darkness, it can manifest as exactly what they're feeling. Lissa had just gone through a trauma, so you were wary to trust."

"Where did it go?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I healed it from you," Oksana said lightly, testing a silver ring that fit perfectly on my middle finger. She removed it and I sputtered.

"You… how?"

Mark answered for her as Oksana concentrated on the silver in her hands, closing it inside her fist. She was radiant, hard to tear your eyes away from. "Darkness is synonymous with Spirit users," he explained. "Where most elemental magic takes power from the world around the user, Spirit feeds off of the Moroi themselves. Darkness to balance the light. When a shadow kissed person takes the darkness away from their bondmate, it can affect our moods, but it's now no longer an innate part of the person, more like any other illness or injury. A Spirit user can heal that kind of ailment away."

"I'm so sorry," I apologized to Mark. "Now that I know what it feels like, I'm so sorry I put you through that."

"It's okay," he reassured me. "Oksana and I can manage it."

"One of the ways," Oksana continued. "Is with Spirit charms."

"Ivan has mentioned those too… how do they work?"

"You know silver stakes, right? They're infused with magic from all four elements. You can also infuse silver with spirit and it will slowly give the wearer healing magic and protection." She slipped the ring onto my finger. Though nothing felt drastically different, I did feel a hum of peace enter me. "They don't last forever though, they do have to be reinfused."

"Thank you," I whispered.

"It's no problem at all," she smiled, standing to sit back with Mark on their couch. She looked a little dazed, but perked up when she sat beside him.

"Interesting stuff," I mused, looking at the ring on my right hand. Like stakes, it bared no trace of the magic it stored inside. "I wonder what would happen if you infused a stake with spirit."

Ivan's eyes widened beside me, and he moved to furiously scribble a note on a page that seemed filled with musings on the encounter he'd just witnessed.

"I can't imagine anything," Dimitri said beside me. I turned to look him in the eyes, finally. "Stakes are made to kill… healing magic directly contradicts that."

"I suppose you're right."


	16. Chapter 16

I excused myself, eager to catch a moment alone.

As soon as everything had settled, Ivan took to asking Mark and Oksana a million questions, especially about her experience brushing my mind while I was in Lissa's. It had been dangerous, she said, and I suddenly felt like a burden, having put the couple at risk healing Lissa and I's troubles.

It only took one look at myself in the small mirror of their bathroom for the tears to start welling up and over my eyes. I hadn't cried in years, not even when Lissa and I had said our goodbyes at St Vladimir's – her eyes had flooded as she desperately clung to my shoulders, but I had put on a brave face so she would feel assured that we could get through the separation.

Now? I wasn't so sure.

Maybe, if I had been with her, the incident tonight would never have happened. She wouldn't have used her magic and she wouldn't have felt the need to hurt herself.

Deep down, I knew it wasn't as simple as that. But I couldn't help but hope.

A few moments passed before I heard a light knocking on the door.

"Rose? Roza, please let me in. Dimitri's voice came through the door, strong and clear. I tried desperately to will my eyes to dry, but I couldn't. There was no way I could open the door in this state. Sensing this, Dimitri stayed silent on the other side, but never moved away.

After a few minutes, my tears lightened up and I moved to open the door, avoiding my own reflection. I knew what I looked like; red and puffy. Not the ideal way to interact with a man you had a crush on, but I had nothing to lose at this point. It's not like that was ever going to happen.

"Oh Roza," Dimitri whispered, taking in my appearance. "Are you okay?"

It was the most ridiculous question someone could ask at the current moment, but it still made me crack a smile. "Never better," I quipped, returning to old habits of sarcasm first and feelings _never_.

"Come on," he said, gesturing behind him to a door leading outside.

I followed him blindly into the large garden surrounding Mark and Oksana's home. The sun had long since set and, remembering that I had woken up a whole sunset before, I suddenly felt extremely tired. The crying hadn't helped.

Wordlessly, Dimitri handed me his cell phone. I stared at it, puzzled for a moment, before I realized what he was offering: the chance to talk to Lissa. With no warning, I launched myself into his arms, feeling the fatigue that had sunken into my bones lift minutely.

"Thank you thank you thank you," I breathed into his shoulder. He hesitated before wrapping both of his arms around me, enveloping me in his comforting scent and providing the physical comfort I seriously needed right now. Dimitri was a _good_ hugger.

He let me go, lingering just long enough to make me hope the hug would never end, and passed the phone into my hands.

I'd made a point to memorize the telephone number for Lissa's dorm as soon as she'd given it to me in her initial email, so it was easy enough to remember.

The same dorm matron who presided over the desk the last time I'd called answered, putting me on hold when I requested Lissa, and transferring the call to her room once she'd confirmed they were awake. I'd known as much with only a quick check of the bond – Lissa was still rattled by what had happened.

"Hello?" She asked timidly.

"Lissa."

"Rose, is that you?" She let out of soft choke, covering up as a sob as relief flooded through the bond. "Rose, it's horrible."

"I know, Liss. I saw."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't you dare apologize," I scolded her. I knew she felt bad for all the times she pulled me into her head in a panic, for the sleepless nights and worry they caused me, but it was far from something she could control – especially in the case of this rabbit, where outside forces were definitely at play. I told her as much.

"Did you see the note?" She asked timidly.

"Yeah," I confirmed softly. That note would be etched into my mind forever. "I swear, Lissa. If I knew what was going on here, I would be back on a flight in a heartbeat to take you away from that place. You could come stay with me in Baia and I would keep you safe."

Lissa laughed half-heartedly at my rambling attempts to reassure her. She stopped. "I can't unsee it, Rose."

"Me neither."

"It was like it… exploded."

We both knew as much, and I didn't need to confirm the details with her.

"Lissa… Why did you try to heal it?"

She was silent on the other side for a moment. "I swear, I didn't mean to. Some part of me knew that it was too far gone. But, some part of me also hoped I could help it. I thought-"

"You can't try to do that, Lissa. The way it made you try and hurt yourself. You have to stop-"

Lissa gasped on the other side. "That _was_ you- how?"

I knew what she was referring to – the incident in the shower where, through Oksana and Mark's coaching, I had been able to take the darkness welling up inside of her.

"It's a long story…"

"Well, I'm not going to sleep any time soon, and I miss your stories," she said.

"I've met another bonded pair here, Lissa."

She gasped, intrigue and excitement flooding the bond. It was a welcome change in emotion. "Who? Where?"

"They live in Dimitri's hometown, Baia."

Lissa already knew, from my emails, about my trip to Baia, so it saved me some of the courser details of explaining how we'd gotten to their place. I told her all about what had happened in the brief time I'd been here, down to Yeva's weird premonitions that had gotten me to Mark and Oksana in the most uncanny timing. Maybe, I could believe there was some truth to the old woman's ramblings.

Lissa seemed thankful for the distraction, warm feelings rolling through the bond especially when it came to knowing that I was accompanied by my _hot_ mentor on this holiday. Some things, like Rose Hathaway having a crush, never got old to her. For once, among recent events, she was happy to encounter even the smallest bits of normalcy.

"Anyway, Oksana is a Moroi woman and Mark is her shadow-kissed guardian, he's a dhampir and they're _married_."

She gasped, marveling in the fact just as I had; Moroi-dhampir marriages were a rarity of our world of traditions and status.

"Oksana has all these unique abilities," I continued. "She can heal like you, but she can also read minds and see auras."

"What are those?" Lissa asked from the other side.

I tried to explain the rings of light that everyone carried around themselves the best I could.

Dimitri, keeping quiet to himself before that moment, spoke up from beside me. "Oksana has told us before that she just needs to concentrate on a person, opening herself up to the idea of seeing them, before they start to become clearer around you."

"Did you hear that?" I asked Lissa, knowing very well she would with her enhanced hearing.

"Yes! Do you know anything else?"

"She said that it was one of her first abilities, but it still required a lot of patience and focus," he continued. "Don't get discouraged if it takes you time, Princess."

I rolled my eyes at his formality. "She also said that someone who is shadow-kissed has a ring of darkness around their aura."

"Yours and any other spirit user would have gold," Dimitri supplied.

On the other side, I could hear Lissa scribbling notes, ever the scholar.

"What does it mean that you have darkness?" She asked.

I hesitated. I had no right keeping this from Lissa, and maybe having the knowledge would be enough to serve as a self-supplied limitation on her use of magic.

"Well, because I technically had to die to become bonded to you… I've touched darkness, so I maintain a connection to it." We'd talked about as much over email before. "Part of being bonded is that, beyond being able to feel your emotions, like the darkness that welled up inside of you and made you want to hurt yourself, I can also take them away from you… into myself."

"No!" Lissa exclaimed, easily picking up on the implications of my words.

"Don't worry, Lissa. Mark and Oksana also taught me how I could deal with that. You can heal darkness out of me just like any other ailment."

"But I- I'm not there Rose."

Desperate to keep her heart from breaking, I fumbled for more explanation. I swiveled my eyes frantically to Dimitri's and he grabbed my hand, pointing at and fumbling with the ring. I understood his point.

"There are other ways! Doesn't your Uncle Victor make earth magic charms?"

"Yeah, he used to help with charming stakes before he got sick," she confirmed.

"Well, evidently, you can charm silver with spirit just the same. It becomes something like a healing spell for the person wearing it, like in a ring… it wears off after a while, but it can be effective in the meantime and provide protection."

"Ivan has written a few things about the uses of magic charms outside of stakes. I can give his manuscripts to Rose to send to you," Dimitri said for both of us to hear. Since he had picked up my hand to indicate the ring, he hadn't let go. Instead, he was studying it with peculiar interest, his forehead knotted together thoughtfully.

"Yes, thank you Guardian Belikov."

Two could play at the game of over-the-top titles, I laughed to myself.

"So that's what you did?" Lissa continued, directing her words to me this time. I'd almost forgot how we'd gotten on this train of thought in the first place.

"Yeah, Lissa… I didn't want you hurting yourself again."

She sighed. "I know. I've been doing well, I swear. Haven't even thought about it since I got back…. But something about… when I saw _it_… I just couldn't take it, Rose. It was too much and I felt like I would, I don't know, EXPLODE if I didn't get it out of me. I had to let it out."

"I know. I know." I knew, but I didn't understand, and I couldn't pretend to. "Luckily, we have a way of dealing with that now." Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Dimitri frown, maybe thinking of the time. "Anyway, it's getting late and I think we should be getting back to our rental soon."

"Okay," she said on the other line. "Thanks for talking to me, Rose."

"Anytime," I responded, meaning it. "This week we're even on the same schedule, how about that?"

She laughed, a truly joyful sound distracting from the present troubles. "Thanks Rose, have a good night."

"You too."

Dimitri and I sat in silence for a few moments, the air around us lighter than it had been when we first got out here.

"You shouldn't make promises like that, Roza," Dimitri said after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Promising that you can just heal it all away," he clarified. "That's fair to you."

I shrugged it off, reaching out to hand him his phone back. He caught my hand again, studying my fingers with scrupulous eyes.

"When I was looking at your hands earlier, I realized that they were chapped from all of our work outside. I also-" he shook his head, as if he didn't believe what he was saying. "Well, I thought that I could see them healing in front of my eyes. I think the ring is doing it."

He took both of my hands. It was true, if you compared them, the hand with the ring on it was far less chapped than the other, far less chapped than it had been earlier that day. I stared at them in wonder, unwilling to take them from Dimitri's warm grasp.

Dimitri swore under his breath, a word I had come to know as "dammit".

"What?"

"We should have gotten you gloves," he scolded, more at himself than me.

"I guess I just figured this was the beginning of it," I sighed.

He quirked a single eyebrow at me, a skill I was beginning to grow jealous of.

"You know…" I said vaguely. "All guardians are so hard and grizzled, even the females. They're all leathery and… well, they just aren't as feminine as I guess I hoped I could be. This life… it destroys that part of us."

He hesitated, cocking his head before shaking it furiously. "That won't happen to you. You're too…" The way his eyes look at me, surveyed me, had something fluttering inside of me. Not the time, Rose. He sighed. "You won't get like that."

"I sure will," I countered. "First the hair comes off and then… well, I become my mother. Secretive and siring a daughter she couldn't care less about," I muttered.

"You don't care much for your mother?"

I scoffed. "I'm not sure how she and Abe really add up, but I spent more quality time with him last month than I ever had with her, probably in all my years combined."

"That's not her fault."

"She didn't have to abandon me."

Dimitri, having never let go of my hands, absentmindedly rubbed soothing circles into them with his thumbs. "You, of all people, should understand being dedicated to the job."

"Am I a hypocrite?"

"Maybe you shouldn't be so hard on her," he offered calmly. In another life, I would have fought him hard on it. Knowing my feelings towards my mother, especially when she sent Abe to my rescue and _this_ was his grand solution, well maybe it was only my sleep deprivation holding me back.

"Doesn't change my initial argument. I don't want to get old," I punctuated.

Dimitri let the conversation drop at that, leaning in to cradle my hands against the cold. Gingerly, he pulled the ring off my finger and slipped it on the other hand.

"It'll heal your hands up nicely," he pointed out. "Then, we can get you some gloves and prevent that from ever happening again."

I laughed just as the door to the house swung open, revealing Ivan. I jolted pulling my hands from Dimitri's, knowing the smile of my face reflected my uneasy feeling of being caught in the act.

"Dimitri let me borrow his phone to call Lissa," I blurted out.

"He's nice like that," Ivan smiled softly, pausing a moment. "Why don't you both come in? We want to get headed home soon for some rest. We've all had a long day."


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Sorry about the late update, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!**

* * *

_From: Rosemarie Mazur_

_To: Vasilisa Dragomir_

Liss,

Just wanted to check in with you after everything this weekend. I've been meaning to call you but I know that you're pretty busy lately AND Dimitri hasn't given me much of a break in training since coming out to Baia.

I thought we'd maybe cool down A LITTLE out here but, no joke, we train in combat for about five hours a day. And, of course, he never seems to run out of curriculum and guarding tips that I "missed last year" so we talk about all that for probably another hour. On top of that, Ivan has taken it upon himself to tell me more about his magic research. So, really, it's like I'm not on a break at all!

We're going to meet up with Mark and Oksana at the end of the week to talk more about the delights of being shadow-kissed and how to keep everything in check long term!

Until then, training, training and, what's that? MORE TRAINING.

Miss ya, Rose

_From: Vasilisa Dragomir_

_To: Rosemarie Mazur_

Dear Rose,

Yeah, everyone's been keeping me busy and distracted ever since Natalie let it slip to our group what happened the other night… I've barely had a moment to myself since.

Thanks for… being there for me. I really couldn't have done it without you. Truly.

When you first left, I felt so lonely. I distracted myself with Natalie and Mason and got so wrapped up in Christian, when all I really wanted was to see you. I felt like you had abandoned me but you really didn't. I used to think it was creepy.. the way you could just pop into my head, like some sort of invasion of privacy. But now, I'm so thankful. You're there for me even when I don't know it. You've saved my life more than once, near and far.

All that aside, I'm glad you're keeping up with your training. I'm trying to have the most badass guardian to ever exist – though I know you already make that cut. Must not hurt to spend so much time with Dimitriiiiii. How's your hot Russian comrade doing?

We'll make an effort to talk more, I promise.

Best,

Lissa

_From: Rosemarie Mazur_

_To: Vasilisa Dragomir_

What are bondmates for, Liss? I've got your back from here 'til the afterlife, apparently.

Don't you even try and act like distracting yourself with Christian doesn't have its benefits. Flirty glances in the chapel attic? Don't forget that, even though I can control it better now, I still come for a visit sometimes.

Working so much with Dimitri has its benefits and its drawbacks, to say the least. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being the reckless child I was all too recently… but I know it's worth it to be your guardian. Anyway, brushing the sappiness aside for both of us.

Viktoria is forcing me to go out with her and her friends tonight. She's even got "the perfect dress for me" which should be… interesting considering I don't know her taste that well. Regardless, it'll be nice to get away from the guys and the distraction that is Dimitri and destress a little.

Take care of yourself, Lissa. I'm not doing all this work to guard anyone else.

* * *

I signed off of Ivan's laptop, heaving myself up from where I sat at the kitchen table and bidding everyone goodbye.

Dimitri waved from his place on the couch, winding down from the day and reading one of those worn-in Western novels he always seemed to be nose-deep in.

It had taken me a while to discover just what his genre of choice was, but when Alexei had let me in on the secret, I couldn't help but tease him to no end. He would _love _Montana, I often claimed. All the cowboy hats and dude ranches he'd ever need.

"You're not staying for dinner?" Ivan asked from the kitchen where he and Alexei were pulling together the meal. Despite her protests, they'd insisted that Olena take the night off from cooking. As sweet of a gesture as it was, I wasn't sure 24-year-old men could necessarily be considered decent chefs, so I was glad when Viktoria gave me an excuse not to test it.

"Nah, Viktoria wanted me to come over early and said there were plenty of leftovers."

"Okay," Ivan nodded, accepting the excuse. "Well, have fun tonight!"

Alexei, popped his head up, doing his best impression of my own father, accent and all. "Be back by eleven and if any boy is being creepy-"

"I'll punch him in the throat," I said, invoking some of my old Rose Hathaway spirit. I was looking forward to getting a bit of her back for the night.

I made my way over to the Belikova residence, where I was greeted by an ecstatic Viktoria.

"I've already got a big plate fixed for you upstairs," she said, grabbing me by the hand and leading me up the stairs. "Just wait until you see this dress. It was made for you."

"Then why is it in your wardrobe?" I joked with her.

"Trust me," she said assuredly. "It's yours now.

She was right. The dress was black and sleek. On Viktoria it might have been more modest, but with my Turkish curves and the silky material, it clung to me like second skin, flaring out and hitting just above the knee. It was strapless, so I had to go braless, only because I hadn't exactly anticipated going out with her while in Baia, and she didn't exactly have anything else that fit me.

"Blyad," she breathed once I put it on. She'd insisted we eat and do our makeup before getting into the dresses so we could see the final product in its entirety. I was happy to oblige her because she was so nice as to give me a break from the boys, and once we'd gotten down to it, I realized that I'd forgotten just how great it could be to destress with a genuine female friend. I'd been able to forget all the sinister things in life for a few hours, and I forgot how freeing being a regular girl could be. "You look hot, Rose."

I squinted at myself in the mirror, barely believing what I saw before me. I had lost myself in my training for the past few months. From taking so many beatings in class, I had grown used to my skin being mottled by bruises of differing ages, but Oksana's ring had taken care of each of them, much like it had my hands. While I didn't feel right anymore packing on a lot of makeup, what I had indulged myself in accentuated my dark eyes and made me feel a smolder of Rose Hathaway return to my face.

Viktoria looked equally as beautiful, if not more so. If we'd still been at the academy, or say St Vladimir's equinox dance, we would've squarely been kicked out for breaking the school dress code.

"Is this too much?" I asked her, slightly doubtful. "It's so early in the week, no one is going to be out."

"Trust me," she said. "Baia is the kind of town where people come to party, you know what towns like this are like, and when the students are back, we all like to let loose early in the week."

She tossed me a small handbag. "Take this and leave your jacket. You won't want to carry it around with you when we're daaaaancing." she grinned with a shake of her hips.

"Do you mind if we hit up the rental on our way? I can just drop my stuff off and I want to grab some lip gloss I left there."

"Yeah, no problem, I'll tell Nikolai to meet us there!"

I grinned at her, "Speaking of… when are you just going to open your eyes to the fact that he likes you?"

Viktoria rolled her eyes in return, shuffling me out of her room and towards the stairs. "No way, Rose."

"You can deny it all you want, but he flirts with you endlessly."

She turned to me with a slight smile on her face. "You think?"

"She knows," Yeva murmured from her place in the living room. Ever since I'd personally thanked her for getting me to Mark and Oksana in the nick of time, we had made strides in our relationship. That's to say, she spoke slower around me and didn't leer…_ as much._

"Oh, girls, you're going to need coats," Olena scolded.

I slipped mine on to appease her, waving goodnight as Viktoria slipped out the door without responding to her mother's worries.

"Have a good night," she called back to them, closing the door with a huff.

As we made our way towards the rental house, Viktoria opened her clutch, producing a shiny metal flask. She shook it in my face, beaming as it barely sloshed, full of liquid.

"What is that, poison?" I joked.

"If I have all my facts right," she started, uncapping it and taking a swig before handing it over to me. "This is your first taste of Russian Vodka."

I followed her lead, swinging back a large gulp and barely getting the entirety down before sputtering and coughing in the street. "You got ripped off," I insisted. "That is gasoline."

"All work and no play since you've started training with Dimitri," she scolded. "If you're going to live in Russia, you're going to have to get used to the way we drink. Plenty and strong."

Nikolai was waiting for us on the corner between the Belikova home and our rental. From his own pocket, he produced a matching flask and, with raucous cheers, they chimed them together. The two were literal peas in a pod.

"I'll be right back," I insisted, making my way to the door of the home.

The boys had given me one of the sets of keys, not anticipating any of them would need it for a night staying in, so I easily let myself in. Ivan and Alexei were gathered around the television, watching a movie in the dark. Unexpectedly, however, Dimitri was still up to join them.

The two guardians sprung up from the couch, ready to strike.

"Relax, you two."

"Having no fun? Back so soon?" Alexei teased as he and Dimitri sat back down.

"No," I laughed at him, swinging my jacket off and onto the coat hangers next to the door. I moved past them, bound for the bedroom I was staying in. "I just forgot something."

In the millisecond it took for me to throw my clothes onto the bed and find my lip gloss, the boys had taken it upon themselves to throw the lights in the living room on, making me squint in the contrast of the dark hallway I'd just come from. The three of them stood standing, watching me like concerned fathers. Well… two of them did.

"Jeeze, you guys. Way to blind a girl."

"Damn, Mazur," Alexei whistled, earning a hit on the backside of his head from Ivan. "Hey! I just wanted to tell her she cleaned up nice."

I laughed at their antics, noticing the way that Dimitri was looking at me. Blank-faced in the way he usually put on his guardian face, his features gave nothing away outright, but the way he was staring… Well, maybe I was imagining it, but his eyes gave away so much more than I'd anticipated.

As if I could blame it on the single shot of vodka, I gave them a swirl, shaking my hair over one shoulder and pulling off my best Rose Hathaway, "You see something you like?"

"You look very nice, Rose," Ivan said diplomatically, gesturing for the door. "But, you'd better get going, I believe you left an equally coat-less Viktoria out there."

"Have fun," Alexei sang to me as I went to leave.

"Roza?" I heard Dimitri say warily from behind me.

"Hmm?" I spun towards him, having just turned the handle and cracked the door, he was closer to me than he'd been just moments ago.

I realized that I wanted _desperately _for him to tell me how pretty I looked. Give me any sign of approval. Anything to show that he noticed me.

"Don't let my sister get you into anything stupid."


	18. Chapter 18

_Author's Note: Thanks for all the uplifting comments and feedback! Sorry to the reviewer who doesn't like a slow burn story... though, Vampire Academy isn't exactly the series I would recommend if you can't handle a six-book slow burn. Stay safe wherever you are, everyone!_

* * *

Once inside the club, Viktoria and Nikolai wasted no time in leading me towards the dance floor.

We'd drained their stashes of vodka, taking big gulps on the walk over, ears swarming as we could hear the thumping music even from a block away. Loosened up, it was easy to lose myself in the bassline.

As much as I made fun of Dimitri for his love of 80's music, Russia wasn't so behind on the times. Every so often, I recognized songs Lissa and I had heard on nights out in Portland. The memories these songs triggered brought a smile to my face, and I leaned further into the feeling.

After a while, I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Viktoria, who yelled over the music, "We're going to meet up with friends at the bar, come on!"

We followed Nikolai's lead, hand in hand in hand so we didn't lose each other in the tight crowd. At least, that was why I was holding onto Viktoria so intently; she and Nikolai hadn't taken their hands off each other since the second song in.

He led us over to a booth that held a group of their friends. I recognized them all vaguely, having seen them around with Viktoria and in Ivan's seminar. They were all a year younger than me, so there weren't many chances for us to have a class together outside of it.

From what she'd told me, Viktoria had done a deal of damage control among her friends to dispelling lingering rumors after my "fainting" incident in combat class. After recent events, the embarrassment felt so long ago, and none of them seemed to treat me strangely as they introduced themselves.

"I'm Rose," I shouted back at them.

"She speaks," one of the girls, Vera, joked, causing everyone to laugh. "I'm sorry, it's just that, we were all beginning to think you were Guardian Belikov's perfect match."

"I'm sorry?" I sputtered, nearly choking on my drink.

"It's just that," Nikolai said, leaning over Viktoria. "You're not really the most social dhampir of the bunch, everyone figured you were his little protégé. Aside a rare smile when he's at your lunch table, or with Viktoria, he's not exactly the most approachable guardian at school."

"They've both been through a lot," Viktoria insisted, coming to my defense. "Besides, she's super focused because she's got an important charge waiting for her back home."

"Yeah, who is that, by the way? Viktoria will never tell us," their friend Evgeny asked.

Before I had the misfortune of trying to explain away to notoriety of Lissa's name, I heard Nikolai curse underneath his breath.

Ever on high alert, I followed his gaze to a small group of dhampir boys, en route to our table. They didn't look like anyone to be worried about, but when I noticed the mirrored sour look on the faces of everyone with me, I knew I couldn't judge them off first glance.

"I figured I would see you here, Kolya," the boy in the lead said.

"Didn't know you were even in Siberia, brother," Nikolai responded in fast Russian. The boy looked to be only a few years older than us and, upon closer inspection, I could see the likeness. Clearly, with the way Nikolai was trying to quickly push the conversation to a close, it wasn't a fond relationship.

Not catching onto Nikolai's intentions, or perhaps simply ignoring them, his brother's eyes fell on me, looking me up and down in a way that left me itching to pull my dress a little higher over my chest. "You must be Rose Mazur… quite the talk of the town. No one knew Zmey had a daughter, but I can see the resemblance."

"News travels fast," I said evenly. "Can't say I came prepared with your name though."

"I'm Denis." He gestured to the friends on either side of him, "This is Artur and Lev."

"I'm sorry," Nikolai interrupted, though he clearly didn't mean the sentiment. "But when did you get back?"

"Just this morning… we had some business in Omsk and figured we'd make the trip home for the holidays."

"Hmmm," Nikolai pondered, clearly sarcastic at this point. "You look a little lighter on associates that usual. You usually travel in a pack, where's Vasiliy? Or Timosha? Are you here for the holiday or are you here to notify families?"

"What kind of business did you say you were in?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. If it was something like what my father was allegedly into, that would explain how uncomfortable they were making everyone at that table. But what was this about having to notify families?

"Getting themselves killed," I heard Viktoria say under her breath.

Denis, evidently not having heard her, gestured towards the booth we were sat in. "May I?"

Vera, Evgeny, and the rest of Viktoria's friends rose from their side of the circular booth, headed to dance and avoid the tense situation. From the corner of my eye, I saw Viktoria and Nikolai look longing at their friend's retreating backs.

Before I could scoot in for him to join me, Denis amended his statement. "Actually, why don't we dance? It'll be much more fun to tell the stories that way."

It was a trap, and I knew it. But bringing the old Rose Hathaway out for the night also meant that I was more than willing to let my curiosity get the better of me. I moved to stand and felt Viktoria grab me by the wrist.

"Rose, that's not a good idea. They're no good," she warned, eyes as harsh as I'd ever seen them. Behind her, Nikolai's showed the same ferocity.

"I can handle it," I assured her, moving to allow Denis to escort me to the dance floor.

Denis circled me like prey on the dance floor, but I didn't allow him to get too far off track.

"So what exactly is it that you do?"

"My friends and I hunt Strigoi."

My shock got the better of me, and Denis took it to his advantage, pulling me by the wrist and turning me so that I was dancing on him. I kept my moves restricted, still searching for answers.

"What do you mean? Who are your charges?"

He scoffed behind me, "We don't subscribe to that kind of lifestyle. Guardians are weak – they sell themselves to protect the Moroi and pretend they do it out of choice, rather than enslavement. The Moroi are selfish, all the magic at their fingertips and they don't even lift one to protect themselves."

"That's not true," I countered, spinning around to face him again. "It's been a while since you were in school, but Moroi are learning to use their magic offensively now."

"I thought I heard you were Ivan's student. That's, what? Two grades of Moroi among a worldwide network of schools? Everywhere else, they take dhampirs for granted. We're nothing more than sheep for them. We're expendable and under the system we just wait to be picked off, one by one, no one to remember us when we give our lives for _nothing_.

"I can tell you're feisty, and I know you're trained by Belikov. When you graduate, you don't have to run the course they tell you. You don't have to be like him, hell bent of dying for 'the cause'. You can join us. We keep the world safe by using our skills to actively find and take down Strigoi numbers. You could be a part of the new order."

"At what cost?" I countered, drawing closer to him as we all but stopped putting on the charade of dancing. "I heard what they said about you having fewer people with you than usual. Seems sloppy to me. Sounds like you're losing at the same rate that you're winning."

Suddenly, I felt a hand close around my wrist. I turned, expecting it to be Viktoria again, but coming directly into contact with the chest of someone who was the last person I expected to be here.

_Dimitri._

"We're leaving," he told me, pulling me behind him and looming over Denis. As big of a game as he talked, he looked nervous under Dimitri's glare. "I don't want to see you around for the rest of the week. Leave her alone."

Dimitri turned, pulling me by the wrist to the door. I saw Viktoria out of the corner of my eye, mouthing _I'm sorry_ over the music. She'd somehow escaped the notice of her brother, which stung. At least she could spend more time with Nikolai now.

We broke outside, my ears ringing as they took in the relatively quiet night around us. It was strikingly cold out, as late fall in Siberia probably tended to be. Sensing I needed more than the skimpy dress to protect me, Dimitri tossed me the dark sweatshirt I noticed bundled under his arm, something he must have brought in anticipation of my cold.

I whispered a quiet thank you, avoiding his eye contact and allowing him to gather his thoughts as I pulled the sweatshirt over my head. I had left my own jacket at the front door of the house, easy to access if he'd left in any rush. Instead, the soft sweatshirt fell to my thighs, pulling the ends of the dress up where it came to rest, and I realized that it was for the university he had attended with Ivan and Alexei. I took a surreptitious breath in, breathing in the scent of his personal sweatshirt.

Not even that could calm my attitude, however. "What? You couldn't trust me to listen to you and 'not be dumb'?" I sneered, remembering his words from earlier.

He'd begun to walk away, headed back towards the rental and expecting me to follow. At my words, he sighed, exasperated. "No, Rose. That's not it."

"What is it, then!?"

"Look, it's not you that I didn't trust."

"What is that supposed to mean, Dimitri?"

"Look, Roza…" Dimitri looked at me thoughtfully. "When you came into the house earlier… and I saw what you were wearing… I just knew that everyone was going to want to get their hands on you."

My eyebrows rose, reacting to all the hidden meanings I could derive from that one statement. "Oh really… and you thought…?"

He took a stony breath in, but diverted. "You shouldn't hang around boys like that," he said gruffly.

"Boys like what?"

"The unpromised. You have a reputation to uphold if you want to be Lissa's guardian. Boys like that… they don't have any morals or sense of honor. They jump into fights without knowing what they're getting themselves into."

"They have the training," I countered, though I knew I didn't believe it myself.

"There's more to training than what you learn in school, Rose. They get themselves killed more often than not, they're brash and reckless."

"Funny," I laughed, though we both knew there was no humor behind it. "People would've said that about me not too long ago."

Dimitri sighed, leaning against the brick wall I had come to rest on and facing me. I glanced sideways at him, and his eyes bore into mine. Instinctively, I turned to mirror him, desperate for any semblance of closeness. He didn't move away, which I was thankful for.

"What were you like as a teenager," I asked him. It was hard for me to picture to stone-faced god in front of me ever having been wild, or carefree.

Dimitri smiled at my deflection, but humored me. "Believe it or not, but I wasn't always this way. Up until the incident, I was…" he struggled to find the exact word to describe it.

"Softer?" I suggested. The antithesis to the exterior I and all my classmates had come to know on him.

"Not really, I was always serious about the job, didn't earn the top spot In my class for nothing." I rolled my eyes at him, causing him to laugh. That joyous, _miraculous_ sound. "I guess I was just looser. I could joke around more. Alexei and I were closer back then, which is why they paired us with Ivan when we graduated. But where I retreated further into my shell after everything, he shook it off by becoming louder, more exuberant, as if a joke could erase the severity of what happened."

"You guys seem alright. What changed?"

Dimitri paused to consider my question. "I resented him for a while. I guess I just realized that my resentment couldn't change anything that happened. I could still be serious and be a good friend."

"Sometimes you need a good mix of both," I whispered, thinking about my commitment to Lissa. "Do you ever feel like we got our youths stolen away from us? Not just the two of us, I mean… dhampirs in general. It's all for a worthy cause, don't get me wrong, but maybe the unpromised are just holding onto it…"

Dimitri considered my words, smiling sadly. "You're wise beyond your years to recognize that, but it doesn't change that what they do is reckless."

"People used to say a lot of things about me back at St. Vlad's," I continued. "Even when I was young. That I was too reckless to amount to anything. That I was lucky I made a friend in a high place or else -"

Immediately, certainly, he cut off my musings, "That's not true."

I was touched by how easily he'd come to my defenses, without having known me back that. "Back then-"

"That doesn't matter," he said firmly. "What matters is now and I know you now. You work harder than any other novice at the academy because you worry about Lissa more than yourself …" Dimitri shook his head. "That's what sets you apart – you've already committed to your responsibilities better than guardians twice your age, _far better _than those unpromised kids who have already graduated. You've grown so much since you've gotten here and I know you're going to be one of the best, Roza."

There it was again, the sweet nickname only he had taken to calling me. I puzzled over his praise feeling, as always, like I had yet to earn it. "I don't know if I can do everything I have to."

He raised one of his eyebrows, looking impossibly cool as leaned against the wall, shrouded in his leather duster.

"I don't want to cut off my hair," I explained, feeling childish under his puzzled gaze. I moved to say as much, but he cut me off.

"This was your point from last time," it dawned on him, remembering our conversation about growing old in Oksana's garden. "You don't have to, you know? It's not required," he said with a motion to his own long strands.

"All the female guardians do, to show off their tattoos."

Dimitri stepped forward, uncrossing his arms and gently taking a lock of my hair between his fingers. He gazed at it intensely, twisting it around his finger and I stood frozen, barely breathing in the limited space between us. The world had slowed, like it often did when Dimitri and I shared a moment, any at all. He let the strand go, shaking himself out of the daze with a look of surprise and… pain?

He huffed, pushing himself off the wall and stepping back in the direction of the rental. "Don't cut it."

"But how will people see my molnija-"

"Wear it up," he whispered, a soft smile on his face. He cocked his head in the direction we were meant to go in, outstretching his hand to me. "Come on. Let's get home."


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delay - the good news is that the next chapter is done and written and I will have it up as soon as it is edited! It's longer... and well worth the wait._

* * *

I woke the next morning feeling sluggish from the lingering effects of the night before. Dimitri had ever so kindly agreed to push back our practice time by two hours, but I knew no amount of extra sleep would've made up for it.

Before I went to bed, he'd insisted on me drinking three glasses of water straight, swearing that it would make the difference in the morning. I had taken each down with increased complaining, much to the amusement of Alexei, who was awake on guard, watching us from his post at the table. The water had weighed heavy on me at the time, but it settled by the time I was in bed, and I'd quickly fallen into a heavy sleep.

Both Dimitri and Alexei were already awake, mirrors of how I'd left them only a few hours earlier. The pair looked at me curiously.

"I'm up, I'm up," I said, hands held defensively in front of my face as I made my way over to Ivan's laptop at the kitchen table. "I just need to shoot Lissa an email."

"No worries," Alexei assured me, sitting down with a plate of toast for both of us. "I'm training you today. We can be a little more _flexible_ than your usual jailer."

I jerked my head in Dimitri's direction, he sat on the couch, engrossed in a novel. "Why?"

"Try not to sound so offended," Alexei mocked. "It's good to get cross-training and Dimitri's got some family stuff to do."

I took a piece of toast, leftovers of Olena's black bread that Alexei had slathered in butter. A perfect pre-workout food if I'd ever seen one. "What kind of family stuff?"

Dimitri sighed, putting his book down and turning to face me. "My family is throwing a little party tonight."

"I thought this was a religious holiday, you guys party a little hard for the saints."

"It isn't and not quite," Alexei replied. "It's Dimitri's birthday in a few weeks."

"What!?" I stared at Dimitri, incredulous. "When were you going to tell me?"

"It's not a big deal," Dimitri sighed. "My family just uses the holiday as an excuse to give me an early celebration."

"No big deal? Of course it's a big deal! I should get you a present or something."

"I wanted to get him cowboy boots for his birthday this year," Alexei smirked. "But he says they're impractical for work."

"I don't know," I postured. "You could get those spurs on the side, make them real silver and get them charmed. That could be a formidable weapon against Strigoi."

"See Dimitri? She's always looking out for your best interest." _An eye roll from Dimitri._ "I could probably get them made, but they'd be here a little late."

"I don't need anything," Dimitri insisted, turning away and back to his book, effectively ending the conversation.

I drafted a quick email to send to Lissa. She and Natalie were going off campus tonight, during human time, to get their dresses for the upcoming dance. I so desperately wished that I could be there with her, doing dumb girly things like picking out dresses and gassing each other up for the evening. It would've been a perfect night. Instead, I had to settle for asking her for a million mental images of all the dress options.

"I'm ready," I told Alexei, sending the email and closing the computer. I didn't expect much of a response from her, but I hoped the sentiment counted.

"Let's do it," Alexei agreed, standing up and clapping Dimitri on the shoulder from over the couch. "See ya later, dude."

"Make sure she gets some laps in," Dimitri insisted, causing a rush of wooziness to fill my head in anticipation. He looked at me knowingly as I let out a soft groan, "You won't always be able to run in optimal conditions, this is something my Babushka taught me… practice in all states will make you stronger."

"We already do enough when I'm sleep deprived," I retorted. "Do we really have to add vomiting while running to my skillset?"

Alexei grimaced, "Are you really that nauseous?"

"No," I conceded. "The water helped, but I'm still not sure you guys don't just dilute gasoline and call it Vodka here."

As it turned out, cross training with Alexei brought a whole new perspective into fighting. It had been a while since I worked with him – mostly due to his and Dimitri's swapped schedules.

We spent most of the day in the gym, a longer block of time than I usually spent with Dimitri, but it was helpful to switch up the fighting tactics for a change.

Dimitri relied strongly on his height, while Alexei did so with his strength. He attacked lower than I was used to, bracing for impacts and going for low holds where he could lift and subsequently throw me.

Alexei was patient in helping me learn some of his favorite techniques. Dimitri was too, of course. I felt less guilty making Alexei go over something than I did with Dimitri. I didn't want to look bad for Dimitri, but around Alexei we could mock each other like siblings and still get the work done. I was looking forward to trying some new techniques out on Dimitri and possibly getting the upper hand.

"So…" I started, when we were taking a breather towards the end of the day. "How are you doing?"

Alexei choked on a laugh, nearly coughing on his water. "Since when do we do this?" he asked.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I feel like I spend so much time with Dimitri that you and I can talk crap but never actually talk about anything."

"You're his little protégé. Why are you really asking?"

"I don't know," I admitted, huffing as I realized I'd given him the same answer. "I guess… Dimitri told me a little bit about the accident last night. About how you guys had a hard time getting on after that, which I never really noticed because you seem fine."

Alexei nodded, thoughtful beside me. "We have different… coping mechanisms. They didn't really mesh well."

"He told me as much."

"Did he tell you how we fixed it?"

I shook my head, willing him to go on.

"Well, you probably never noticed because of all the adjustments you were going through, and you didn't have much to compare it to, but it was just around the same time you came around."

"It's been like… years since the accident. You didn't like each other for that long?"

"Yes and no. It's not like we couldn't work together, you learn to compartmentalize a lot as a guardian, and having rotating guard can help. But, Dimitri never understood how to see the light in anything, whereas that's all I could focus on.

"You may have thought you saw him at his dark and brooding best," Alexei laughed. "You didn't see anything. After the attack, the incident, whatever we call it… he retreated into his shell. Ivan did a lot to help him out of it, but he felt like he owed his whole life to Ivan saving us, for going against the rules of Moroi culture to help…

"Ivan was just being a _good friend_ but Dimitri could only deal with that by putting all semblance of emotions away. He didn't think that I was taking it as seriously as he was – that's really what got between us. And that's why I got sent to Portland to retrieve you and Lissa. Abe wanted one of us on the mission and Dimitri refused to leave Ivan's side, he really thought it was a worthless reason to take one of us away."

I laughed wryly, "Thanks, I guess."

"Oh no, it's not like that," Alexei hastily recovered. "We just didn't understand why retrieving you needed one of us when he'd had guardians following you this whole way."

"Abe works in strange ways."

"That's for sure. But he sees three steps ahead of other people, so maybe he knew how this would work out in the long run. Anyway, when Dima read the report of how everything went down, he seemed to realize I could take my job seriously, if not in a different way. That or he just decided it was time to loosen up a little."

"What changed?"

"Well, I don't know…" Alexei said, light in his voice and obviously leading somewhere. "Maybe it's because a pretty girl came into his life and he gets to spend most of his time with her while she looks at him like he's the sun."

He looked pointedly at me.

I drew in a sharp breath, embarrassed to hear Alexei say he'd noticed any of my feelings towards Dimitri. I shook my head defensively, "That's ridiculous, all the girls at school look at him like that."

He laughed, "Yeah, they do. But, you'll notice that he never accepted any of them as his mentee."

"My dad forced that."

"Maybe, but Dimitri has always been steadfast in making his own decisions, even where your father is involved. You have to stop to think that, if he wouldn't leave Ivan's side for a week to go retrieve you, why did he agree to split his attention?"

I opened my mouth to protest further, but he cut me off with a heavy sigh. "**L**ook, Rose. No matter which way you swing it, even Ivan hasn't been able to get as much emotion out of Dima in the past few _years_ as you have in the past few _months_. You can take that information any way you want to; you can ignore it, brush it off. _Or _you can realize what we all did a month ago, when he officially sat me down to make amends with me… he_ likes _you. You're both just too dumb to do anything about it.

"Now," Alexei said, grabbing his gym bag from where we'd left our things. "Time to get you gussied up for his birthday."


	20. Chapter 20

Dimitri's party turned out to be less of an intimate family gathering and more of a village-wide celebration.

It was late afternoon by the time Alexei and I arrived, and everything was already moving in full force. Those guests that arrived with us each came in tow with their own dish, laying them out on a long plastic table the family had set up.

"It's a village tradition," Alexei said, probably noticing how my eyes dragged the length of the table, planning my attack. "Rather than presents, everyone shows their appreciation of a person with food. Dimitri's somewhat of a legend around here, big hero and all, so people usually bring out their best."

Empty handed, he lead me over to a smaller, but well-stocked, drink table where we found Viktoria.

"Rose," she exclaimed, pulling me into a fierce hug. "I'm so sorry about abandoning you last night, I should've left with you."

"No, no, it's fine. Dimitri just…" _What had really brought him at that moment, of all? _"Didn't want me around the unpromised, I guess. I should've listened to you and Nikolai, his brother is a fool."

"Still, I felt so bad. My brother has such uncanny timing."

"That's one word for it," Alexei scoffed. I turned towards him as he shoved a plastic cup into my hand. A wary sniff revealed that it smelled more like a medley of the mixers on the table than anything remotely similar to what Viktoria had given me last night. He raised his glass to mine in a fake toast, "Don't underestimate the stuff, kolyuchka. It'll make you spill your secrets and we want a good, long night."

Alexei move towards Ivan and Dimitri, who were sitting around a fire pit with some guys of various ages, mostly dhampir with a few Moroi sprinkled in. I spotted Nikolai amongst them.

Just as Dimitri seemed to feel my gaze on him, turning to meet my eyes, Viktoria captured my attention again. She grabbed my wrist, spinning me around and pulling me towards the home.

There seemed to be just as many people stuffed inside the small home as there were outside. Mostly mothers and older babushkas; Olena milled around the kitchen, chatting in the warmth of the home. She smiled at us as we passed the kitchen and I flashed her a hurried wave as Viktoria, unaltered in her path, towed me further inside and up the stairs to her room.

"There are too many eligible men in Baia not to bring our a-game to every opportunity," she said, pushing me in front of her vanity and handing me some mascara. "Not that you need much to help."

I laughed. "I'm hardly trying to find someone, Viktoria."

"Oh, I know. Especially with my brother around, you don't really have eyes for anyone else."

I groaned, meeting her smug eyes in the mirror. "Considering this is the second time this topic has come up today… my only question is, how obvious is it?"

"Your crush on my brother? It's not painfully obvious, most of the girls in my family can tell, but Dimitri is too stubborn to notice that sort of thing himself. In fact, any time Alexei or I bring it up as a joke on the off chance you're not around, he vehemently denies the possibility."

"You bring it up!?"

With a cackle, she tossed me a simple sweater and jacket to switch my t-shirt out with. Aside from a formal button up I'd worn to church with the Belikov family, I hadn't brought much aside from comfortable t-shirts and workout clothing with me this week. The outfit she'd leant me definitely made me feel more welcome to the celebration downstairs than what I'd arrived in.

Once she'd approved, Viktoria herded me down the stairs again, assuring me that Dimitri would moon over how nice I looked by night's end.

Ivan waved us over to their group and I surreptitiously took a large gulp of the drink in my cup. Thankfully, the mixers did a good job of hiding any of the overwhelming strength of vodka.

He stood, giving up his seat next to Dimitri for me and grabbing another for him and Viktoria. "This is our student, Rose. Dimitri trains her and I teach her the ways of the beautiful Russian language."

"Please accept our most sincere apologies, on behalf of Dima," a dhampir boy across the group joked, causing everyone to erupt into laughter. "Being new to this country and having to work with such a hard-ass must be torture."

"It's not too bad," I half-heartedly defended.

"At least you have Ivan teaching you the language," a tall Moroi man with Ivashkov-green eyes interrupted. "It would be impossible to learn from a man of so few words."

"Oh, he has many more words for her," Alexei said shiftily from the other side of Dimitri.

"I will hit you, Alyosha," Dimitri growled, causing the group to descend into new topics.

Dimitri got into the habit, over the course of the night, of looking down to me every so often to make sure I was following the rapid-fire Russian. Though it stretched my understanding to new lengths, I was getting along pretty well, staying quiet as I tried to attach myself to one of the myriad of topics closest to me.

After the fifth or so instance, I rolled my eyes at him. "Isn't this your party, Dimitri? You're off the clock, stand down."

Ivan laughed softly behind me, "Trust me, Rose. I've tried to get him to loosen up."

As if on command Alexei, who had left for the drink table, sidled back up, accompanied by a whole handle of vodka. "I know just the solution," he said, tipping a heavy pour into all three of our glasses. The entire group roared in delight, passing the bottle among themselves once he'd relinquished control.

I could feel my cheeks getting flushed the more and more I sipped on the drink, far less diluted than it had been when Alexei first mixed it. Looking over at me briefly, I didn't think much of Dimitri leaving for a moment until he returned with a plate piled high with food and delivered it into my lap. Viktoria's earlier leading had made me forget about the spread, but there was no denying my hunger now that the food was staring me in the face.

I would have been embarrassed by the way I squealed in delight as I registered the gift, but I was immediately occupied by its contents. Small, folded up blini smeared with sour cream. Full-sized sausages wrapped up like pigs in a blanket. Fried buns that could have any sort of fruit filling inside.

Enamored with the plate, I swatted a hand away as it reached for one of the sausages.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I apologized, looking up into Dimitri's face. I had been taken over by the monster of dhampir hunger.

"I think you tuned out the part where I said we could share the plate," he joked. Maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I had a vague recollection of that. He moved to stand again, "It's fine, I'll get my own."

"No, no, no. It's fine," I responded, pushing the plate further towards him so that it was resting near my knee. "I just haven't eaten much besides a protein shake after training… I got a little bit of tunnel vision."

He picked up the same sausage he had reached for before.

From behind his head, I saw Olena exiting this house, cake in hand. Ever a guardian, he noticed my shift in demeanor. Dimitri turned his head, but not before his mother had started a chorus of song for his birthday.

It struck me, as Dimitri helped his mom pass out slices of cake to everyone, how odd all of this was. To have so many dhampir all around, with even a few Moroi mixed in, celebrating another.

All too often, especially under the current Moroi school of thought, our birthdays passed unnoticed after elementary school. My friend Mason, whose mother lived in a community not unlike Baia, used to send him small things on his birthday. The Dragomirs, sensing my connection with their daughter, had always sent something like a cake to the school to celebrate mine. But for Eddie, another friend back home who had been left to the academy as an orphan, there was no celebration.

As dhampir, we'd learned not to expect much in the grand scheme of things. _They come first._

But, here we were. All celebrating one person, perhaps the strongest man of all of us.

"What's wrong?" I heard Dimitri ask me, obviously having noticed me zone out again. He passed me a slice of cake before taking his seat again.

I shook it off, not willing to deluge him with more of my feelings about dhampir traditions. This was too good a moment to interrupt.

To say the honey cake was heavenly was an understatement. Thin, sweet layers of airy pastry layered with tangy whipped cream frosting. Olena had outdone herself again, a compliment she had simply brushed off as soon as I'd voiced it. Just as I was considering a second slice, I heard Ivan clear his throat from beside me.

"Hey everyone. In an effort to continue my cliché yearly tradition of the toast…" he said, rising to stand and prompting everyone to raise their glass. "I'll try and keep it short this year for all of our arms. Dimitri is my guardian but, as most of you know well by now, he's also my best friend. I could recycle the same tired speech you hear from me every year, but I do in fact have some new things to say, if you could believe it.

"This year has been a strange one for us, to say the least," he said with a dramatic, pointed look around. "We left behind our nomadic lifestyle and became men of academia. Anyone that knows Dimitri knows that he's a creature of habit and structure, and embracing safety rather than the regular tension of regular travel in unknown territory, really challenged him." Laughter filled the group.

"But, all jokes aside, I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you. You've risen to the challenge of mentoring one of the…" Ivan paused, smiling knowingly at me and trying to collect the right words, "Most head-strong and… and-"

"And ill-prepared," I supplemented for him, causing the group to laugh again.

"Yeah, okay, ill-prepared," he conceded. "But you have never given up on Rose and I've watched you mold her into one of the best up-and-coming novices in her class in relatively little time, whilst also allowing yourself the space to lighten up and live a little."

Ivan looked pointedly at Dimitri, clearing his throat and raising his cup, last of everyone. "My hope for you is that, this coming year, you allow yourself to loosen up a little more. For god's sake, just LIGHTEN UP." Ivan laughed at his own hysteric shout, celebrating with one last, "Happy Birthday, Dima."

The group erupted into wild laughter, lifting our drinks and polishing them off in honor of the birthday boy. Once I'd finished, I turned back to Dimitri and our forgotten plate of food, still ripe for the picking. When I caught his eye, however, rather than looking anywhere else, at his friends or family, he was looking at me.

Unwavering, his face didn't give anything away. I gulped under the oddly imitate gaze. Still, Dimitri just looked and looked and looked.

Not long after, I found myself playing with Paul. He'd run over to me, bouncing off the walls from eating more than his fair share of the sugar honey cake, and begged me to play with him. I was more than happy to oblige; since meeting him, I'd grown a large soft spot for entertaining the whims of the younger Belikov. It was like seeing a miniature clone of his uncle.

Besides, from one look at Karolina's exhausted face, I knew it was a worthy sacrifice to give her a moment to breathe.

The party wound down along with Paul's energy.

"Thank you, Rose. You didn't have to," Karolina gushed, scooping the young boy into her arms after he'd curled up on a chair.

"Oh it wasn't an issue," I assured her, Paul was relatively easy to keep occupied and tire out. "I had fun."

"Still, I appreciate it." She disappeared inside the home with a content smile on her face, bound to put her son to bed.

All around me, members of the family were milling, bringing any remaining meals inside, collecting trash. I moved to get in on the action, reaching for a dish next to Alexei only to have my hand slapped away. I feigned offense, mouth gaping, as I met his eyes.

"No, ma'am," he said. "You already took a bullet for all of us, entertaining Paul when he was hyped up on sugar. You've earned the right to relax."

"Dimitri's not allowed to help either," Ivan said, sidling up to the table, the man in question in tow. He smirked slyly. "Why don't you both just get a move on back to the rental? We'll meet you there in… let's say an hour."

"You don't have to tell me twice," I said gathering my things. "Ready to blow this popsicle stand?"

Alexei laughed, choking out a sarcastic, "Please do." Ivan smacked him sharply, rolling his eyes. Oh to be in a country of people that understood my sayings.

We said our goodbyes, slipping out the garden gate and down the street. It was a mirror of the night before, the cool silence of night blanketing us, this time unbroken by conversation. Any time I looked over to say something to Dimitri, he seemed deep in thought, so I figured it was best not to interrupt.

The rental lay in wait and we easily let ourselves in, leaving our shoes and silently stripping our jackets at the front door. Still shrouded in silence, I made my way towards my room, leaving Dimitri to his same quiet mysteries.

"Roza, I have something to say," Dimitri blurted unexpectedly.

I turned at the entrance to my door. Even in the dim light, as he made his way over to me, I could see his eyes boring into me much like they had earlier during Ivan's speech. The same intimacy hung in the air around us, heavier now that it was just the two of us. We leaned against the wall, staring at each other in another mirror of last night.

"Mhmmm?"

His response came out so fast that I almost asked him to repeat it outright, "I – uh… you look really beautiful tonight."

"What?" I breathed, caught off guard. I fought back to urge to pinch myself, maybe the drink _had_ been strong. "It's all Viktoria, once again," I deflected.

"That's not what I meant," Dimitri sighed.

"Oh, so I don't look pretty?" I joked, unsure where it all was going.

Looking younger than ever, Dimitri shook his head quickly. "No, you do! I just…" he paused, drawing inward and looking as if he was planning a whole battle strategy in his head.

I leaned further towards him, brushing his arm gently, nudging him to say more.

"Do you know why I came after you last night?" he asked abruptly.

"Because you thought I was going to get myself in trouble?"

"Somewhat, but not in the way that you assume. It's just- Ivan and Alexei have been telling me for weeks that I need to just open up to someone. Not just someone in particular, at all. Really just one person in particular-"

"You're rambling, Dimitri," I said gently. The butterflies in my stomach were out of control and I needed him to get to the point before I got my hopes up.

"You just," he paused again, but I could see a flame light up behind his eyes, power that wasn't there before. "Do you know how beautiful you are?"

I was shell-shocked, shaking my head in what seemed like the only reaction I could give right now. Dimitri shuffled closer to me, caressing my arms in his hands. They trailed up to my neck, catching my jaw under a gentle brush of his thumb.

"You're so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.

"I couldn't stand the thought of someone dancing with you, touching you in a way I've been holding back from," he admitted, stepping further into my space. I reached out for his hips, meeting them without breaking eye contact. "And it's not just when you're all done up to go out. Or when you have makeup on. It's all the time. When we're sparring. When you pout and bite your lip…"

"Dimitri," I cut him off. "Shut up."

Lissa's will-they-won't-they frustration with Christian had been bleeding into me for weeks, exacerbating my own feelings for Dimitri. I wanted this. I would have even without the added influence.

As effortlessly as I would when training, I shuffled up his body, hoping to close the gap between his insane height and mine by wrapping my legs around his waist. Eyes wide, he caught me by the hips, digging his fingers slightly into my ass.

As if reading his thoughts, I whispered, "You don't have to move your hands."

I brought my lips up, barely brushing his lightly before he surged down, bringing them together. It was gentle. Underscored with an eagerness from both of us.

He turned, bracing my back against the wall behind me. Breaking the kiss for a second, he asked, "Is this okay, Roza?"

"Is this okay?" I mocked, breathless. "Don't stop."

He captured my lips again, pushing me into wall gently. It consumed me, my body felt like it was on fire, like I wanted to speed time up and slow it down all at the same time.

His hands travelled up and down my legs, sending goosebumps throughout my thighs.

I reached out to grab his straining biceps, breaking away from his kiss. "You know what would make this all easier?"

He grunted in response, moving his lips to my neck and whispering my name against my skin like a prayer. _Roza, Roza, Roza…_ I sighed happily.

"What are beds for if not making up for height differences?"

I didn't need to tell him twice. Without losing his grip on me, he kicked open the door, depositing me gently on the bed.

With him on top of me, the kissing picked up, more urgent.

I could stay like this forever, in Dimitri's embrace. His hands ran up and down my torso, his fingers caressing the bare skin where my shirt rode about my pants.

I was no stranger to getting pawed up by boys, especially in my hey-days at the academy. Over the shirt, under the shirt. Usually in the act of making out. Usually by my former favorite Zeklos.

This was completely different. Dimitri was ever the respectful human I'd come to know him as. He would ask whether anything he did was find, avoiding any of the more sensitive areas where, for once, I really wanted to be touched.

He let me set the pace, wrestling with me every so often for control, but letting me take it back just as soon as he'd made any strides forward. I wonder if he was burning for more, just like I was.

It was everything. Until it wasn't.

"Stop stop stop," I said, pushing against Dimitri's chest. Something wasn't sitting right with me, and it wasn't just the incessant fluttering in my stomach.

He fumbled, scooting as far away from me as he could on the bed. His eyes looked horrified, but I caught his arm, rubbing it with what I hoped was a reassuring touch. "Roza, I'm so sorry. I should have-"

"It's not you," I breathed. "It's Lissa."

_Author's Note: How are y'all feeling?_


	21. Chapter 21

I had been checking in on her, I really had.

As Alexei and I had arrived at the party, Lissa and Natalie were just waking up, set on beating the crowds and the midday sun by arriving early in Missoula. When we were all sitting around the fire, they were just getting in the car. As Paul had dragged me away to play, they were just arriving at their first store.

Between Paul and Dimitri, distractions in my own present had taken precedence. But I had been watching. _Dutifully_.

The moment I had let my guard down, tore my watch away - for what? ten minutes? - was when it had all flooded in.

Confusion. Surprise. _Fear_.

I looked at Dimitri, who scrambled to regain the space he'd just put between us. The horror must have been evident on my face as held my face in his hands, hands that had just been _all over me_.

"Roza, what's wrong?"

I shook my head, disbelieving, giving no answer as I disappeared into Lissa's head.

They were in the back alley of the mall, exactly where they had first entered from to keep them out of the developing sun. It was shaded, but not perfectly, and Lissa felt dizzy from the filtered light as well as the chaos ensuing in front of her.

It didn't make sense, and I told Dimitri as much.

"What's going on?" I heard him plead, guardian instincts kicking in, desperate to know what was going on.

"They were shopping in Missoula," I reminded him. "But something bad is happening. There's these people in masks, the guardians are fighting them off but-"

"But what, Roza?"

It was all wrong.

They had brought along two of Victor's guardians, Lissa's personal guardian Serena, and another school-sanctioned chaperone. The masked opponents only had one on those numbers. While not ideal, it wasn't the worst odds anyone had ever survived in a Strigoi attack.

Except, I wasn't quite sure that they were Strigoi.

Besides the filtered sunlight, in all the teaching I'd ever had, it was drilled into me how superiorly fast and powerful Strigoi were in a fight. We trained our whole lives to close the gap they naturally had from being changed; Dimitri had forced me to do more than enough running when I'd first arrived to get that point across.

And though I had never technically seen a Strigoi outside of classroom videos, this wasn't how I'd come to think of them.

"Nothing makes sense, Dimitri. It's like Victor's guardians are fighting in slow motion."

"Strigoi are fast," he reminded me. "You've never seen one-"

"I know," I confirmed. "But something is wrong. Those are some of the best guardians we have, they have to be to protect a Royal Moroi of Victor's caliber… But they aren't fighting with half as much power as Serena or Yuri are."

"Lissa is just confused," Dimitri started. He gave another half-hearted counter argument that I drowned out in favor of taking in every detail around me - her.

Against all odds, just as everything went black, Lissa got a good look at the eyes in front of hers.

"They're not Strigoi."

It didn't take long for Ivan and Alexei to arrive. Dimitri had called them with their long-arranged distress signal and, by the looks of it, they'd run straight back, storming through the house and into the room where Dimitri and I had finally given into each other. It felt sacred. But the dire needs of the present situation clouded over any lingering emotion. In a haze, I had thrown Dimitri's college sweatshirt, leftover from the night before, on my body.

Dimitri was still shirtless, frantically pacing the room.

"What's going on?" Ivan boomed, fiercer than I had ever heard him. "Dimitri said something was wrong with Princess Vasilisa."

I nodded blankly, staring off into space as I tried to will her to just _wake up._

I could help her, even from a different continent, if she would only _wake up_.

"Somebody took her," Dimitri stated, finally coming to halt to stand with them.

"Strigoi," Ivan stated, no question as to any other possibility. Something like this had never happened before. "Strigoi would die to take out a Royal bloodline."

"Rose doesn't think so."

"But who would-"

"It's not Strigoi," I said firmly, rising from my place on the bed. "It was sunny out and one of the attackers looked directly at her as she was knocked out. Clear blue eyes. No trace of red. They were dhampir."

"Why would a dhampir take the Princess?" Alexei questioned, posing the question to no one in general.

We stood in silence for a moment before Ivan opened his mouth. He started and stopped himself a few times, almost as if he could hardly believe what he was going to say. "What if… they were serving a Moroi?"

"Why would a _Moroi _take the Princess?" Alexei amended, growing more incredulous. "Political leverage?"

"No…" his charge pondered. "She's still a minor, she doesn't have any power. Never mind the fact that she doesn't meet the Quorum… Does she have any enemies, Rose?"

"No one has a problem with Lissa," I started, my mouth turning to a sneer as I realized exactly who might have a problem with her. "Queen Tatiana. She's always had it out for Lissa."

"As much as we love to back talk the Queen, I don't think so," Ivan countered. "Every time we've met the Queen, anytime she happens to bring up the Dragomirs, she talks about her like a future successor, not a vagrant."

"But-"

"What about the threats she's been receiving," Dimitri asked. He'd been quiet up until this moment, concentration clear on his face. "We thought it was some stupid student, but what if it was something more?"

"Like what?" Suddenly I felt so, so small. The threat had been under our nose for years, and we'd just ignored it.

Dimitri shook his head, still trying to put the pieces together internally.

"Can you reach her?" Ivan asked.

I could've given myself whiplash from how quickly I shook my head. "She was knocked out, I don't know when I'll be able to get to her again… not til she comes to."

"Then we have some things to do," Ivan said, taking command of the situation. "Dimitri, let's call Guardian Petrov, inform her of the situation if she doesn't already know. Alexei, you call Mark and Oksana. I think we might be needing some of their guidance again."

"You should sit in on this," Dimitri told me, swiping his discarded shirt from the floor – not without a pointed look between Ivan and Alexei – and pulling it over his head as he gestured for me to follow him to the living room.

Dimitr settled at the kitchen table and Alexei slipped outside, intent on calling the couple. I felt bad that they would be dragged into this business again, at such a late hour nonetheless, but knew why it was a call that had to be made. If Oksana had bolstered me to help Lissa from across the world once, why couldn't she do it again?

"Petrov," Dimitri grunted, getting through to the head guardian at St. Vladimir's. He set the phone out in front of him, on speaker phone, and Ivan and I moved to fill in the seats on either side of him. "This is Guardian Belikov, I'm Ivan Zeklos's guardian, stationed at St. Basil's Academy in Siberia."

"Guardian Belikov," Alberta replied, surprisingly chipper for the time of night in Montana. As long as I'd known her, it seemed like she could function under any circumstances. "This is a surprise. You're mentoring Rose Hathaway, last I'd heard, is that right?"

"It is," Dimitri confirmed. "She's actually a part of why I'm calling. I've got her and my charge with me and, shoving aside the formalities of introductions, we're calling about something rather urgent."

"Get on with it."

"We have reason to believe that Princess Vasilisa Dragomir has recently been… taken."

We could hear Alberta on the other line, sputtering over his words. "I'm afraid that's simply not-"

"This is Ivan Zeklos, ma'am. I don't know if you're aware of this," Ivan interjected. "You may not know that the Princess and Miss Mazur, Miss Hathaway as you know her, are in fact bonded."

She was silent on the other line.

"It hasn't been acknowledged for quite some time," he continued, wary to her silence. "But since we've had Rose with us, she has been able to sense Vasilisa's feelings and, for lack of a better explanation, she's been able to see through her eyes as if she was there."

"Surely you can't be serious," Alberta held, obviously dumbstruck. "We would know about something like that."

"This is something we can discuss at another time," Dimitri said, trying to bring the conversation back to its original purpose. "Right now, we have reason to believe the Princess has been taken, she-"

"I saw it with my own eyes," I shouted, making Ivan cringe as I took over the conversation. "Lissa was at the mall on her trip to Missoula and some people in masks ambushed them."

"Strigoi," Alberta said matter-of-factly.

"No," I pushed, exasperated at having to repeat myself. "It's full on sunlight out there, and besides, she got a good look at their eyes before they knocked her out, they were dhampir."

More silence.

"Look, I know it's all hard to believe-"

"That's simply impossible, Miss Hathaway."

"It's not," I said, smacking my hand against the table in anguish. Dimitri caught my hand, shooting me a look that screamed _calm down._ I fought to regain my composure. "I know what I saw, Alberta. Their eyes were blue. Not red, blue. Now, Lissa is in trouble and we need to find her."

The other line was silent for a moment. Just as I was about to speak again, urge her to do something, I heard the tone of a radio. "This is Petrov. Has anyone heard anything from the Dashkov party?"

We listened with bated breath, all three of us leaning into the receiver as Alexei shuffled back inside and sat with us.

"They'll be ready for us whenever we get there," he whispered, leaning closer himself, well-aware not to ask questions.

"Get me Serena or Yuri on the phone, we need to make contact."

The clear sound of a phone ringing on the other end before it connected.

"Petrov, this is Serena," a voice trembled. She sounded so distant. "There's been an accident, we were ambushed. No one is seriously hurt, but I… I lost Lissa. Yuri and Kent, Prince Dashkov's guardian, have the scene secured. Guardian Sebastien and I are on our way back with the Prince and his daughter."

"Good, Serena," we heard Alberta reassure her. "I'll send a team to review the scene. When you return, please bring the entire party to the Guardian's Headquarters to be briefed."

Their conversation, curt in the way most guardians mastered young, ended. Alberta turned her attention back to us.

"Does Rose have a read on where the Princess might be yet?"

The boys looked at me, expectant. I tried to drop my walls, reaching out to Lissa in a way that had become second nature to me. Nothing.

I shook my head, my heart sinking into my stomach.

"No, she's still incapacitated," Ivan responded.

Dimitri rose from his seat next to me, allowing Ivan and Alexei to continue coordinating with Alberta. He took me gently by the arm and lead me to the couch.

"Everything is going to be okay," he whispered, pulling me to sit next to him. There was no pretense of keeping anything from the boys, especially since they'd arranged for us to have alone time to begin with. So, I tunneled my head into his chest and let the sob I'd been holding in rake through me.

"I should've been keeping a better watch."

"There was nothing you could have done, Roza," Dimitri reassured me, hands tangled in my hair. "Her guardians were the only physical barrier that could have saved her."

"That's what bothers me about all this," I said, wiping a lingering tear from my eye and straightening myself to look Dimitri in the eyes. "The only guardians I saw giving it their all were Yuri and Serena. When I said it looked like the guardians were fighting in slow motion… I only meant Victor's looked that way.

"If they weren't fighting Strigoi… what was going on?"


	22. Chapter 22

_**Author's Note: What's up y'all!? Big apologies that this chapter has been so long in the making, real life and my real job (where I live outside and study forests with no internet access for the summer) caught up to me! Regardless, I'm back and hoping to churn out weekly updates until this story is done. Thanks for bearing with me in the meantime, I'm sorry to keep you waiting on this one. **_

* * *

Until Victor's party returned to campus for a debrief, or Lissa somehow, miraculously, woke up, we were at a standstill.

Dimitri tried his best to comfort me, but it was fruitless. With my bondmate still out cold, feeling more distant to me every moment that I couldn't reach her, I was restless.

So, I paced. Back and forth, wearing a trail into the carpet as I made the boys go cross-eyed, watching me from across the room.

"Do you want to go for a run?" Dimitri asked softly, bringing me to pause. "It might get your mind off everything."

I shook my head adamantly, "No. I need to be here when they're ready." 

Alberta had agreed to let us be a part of the debrief when Victor arrived. Working with Alexei, who turned out to have quite the technological skills up his sleeve, they set up a video connection between Ivan's computer and what I guessed was a large screen in a guardian conference room.

Not long after Dimitri's offer, we heard a commotion from the other side. I raced over to the table and we crowded around the screen, Ivan and I in the center flanked by Alexei and Dimitri.

One by one, the members of Victor's travelling party filed around the long table. They arranged facing us, Victor and Natalie at the center. The former looked worse for wear, worse than he had even just months earlier. His sickness, which had come on so slowly just years before, seemed to have kicked into overdrive.

"Is the connection still fine?" Alberta asked, taking a seat in the last remaining chair at the head of the table.

"Yes," Ivan responded, straightening into the formality so often required of Royal Moroi. "Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your debrief. We hope we can be of assistance in helping to locate the Princess."

Victor's head whipped up towards us, squinting at our images. The stress of the attack must have thrown him off, what with the delayed recognition of our, albeit virtual, presence. "Ah, Rose. It's been so long, how is life on the other side of the world?"

I huffed, annoyed by his statement. This was anything but the time to catch up.

"Prince Dashkov," Alberta started, obviously intent to steer the conversation towards its intended purpose. "We need you, and your team, to tell us everything you remember from the attack. No detail is too small."

"With all due respect," one of Victor's guardians spoke up. "And I beg everyone's pardon, but… it's highly unlikely that the Princess is still alive. The Strigoi-"

"It wasn't a Strigoi attack," I said weakly.

"Excuse me?" The guardian responded, Victor perking up beside him.

"It wasn't a Strigoi attack," I repeated, stronger this time.

"And how are you supposed to-"

"They have a bond," Victor spoke up, staring into the camera and, seemingly, stonily into my soul.

Seeing the confusion on my face, Natalie perked up beside him. "Lissa told me about it."

I cocked my head slightly. Surely Lissa would have told me if she were going to confide in anyone, considering all the trouble we'd gone to in order to keep it a secret.

Alberta commanded attention back to her. "We're hoping that your timelines, along with Rose's interpretation er- through Lissa, will help us to put together what happened tonight. That's the only way we'll be able to recover the Princess."

"Do you really think you will be able to use your bond to help?" Victor asked.

I nodded, "I saw everything. Those weren't Strigoi you were fighting."

What followed was nearly an hour of dead ends. Verbal repetition of events that I'd already spent the prior hour rolling over in my head.

The more we spoke, the less anything made sense.

How did Victor's guardians not realize that they weren't fighting Strigoi?

After almost an hour, Alberta called the meeting, ordering everyone get some rest and reconvene in the morning, once the rest of the team that had been left at the scene returned.

We were wasting precious time but, according to Alberta, we had to think of the welfare of the ailing Prince. Our best chance would be to get some rest. Lest Lissa wake up anytime soon.

"I do need a run," I stammered out, moving to get my sweatshirt for the bitter night.

"No," Dimitri countered, grabbing me by the shoulders and pushing me towards the hall. "You need to rest. Alexei has already agreed to keep an eye on any communications from Guardian Petrov."

"No," I pushed, both verbally and physically. Nevertheless, I felt myself sway, exhaustion sinking into me now that my adrenaline had crashed.

He chuckled in my ear, pushing me back through my bedroom door. A sense of déjà vu swept over me, and we both froze. My shirt was still laid out on the comforter, Dimitri's duster strewn across the floor, opposite the room from my winter parka.

Dimitri recovered faster, pulling the comforter down and causing me to pause again in shock as he climbed in first, settling under the covers and opening his arms for me to join him.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked, as flirtily as I could considering the current weight of the world. I wrapped myself in his arms, chests coming together through more layers than they had only hours before.

"Hopefully I'm not alone in saying that I'm not getting any rest if you're out of my sight."

I snuggled closer to him in response, slipping easily into sleep.

In dreams, I was greeted by the familiar sight of the apartment Lissa and I shared in Portland. For Vlad's sake… even in dreams, I was haunted.

"Rose?"

I spun around, searching for the meek voice that rang out behind me. There, slumped against the kitchen table, I found Lissa. Gasping, I rushed over to her. Eerily, her forehead sported the same kind of bruising I would expect from the nasty whack she'd received in the struggle.

"Lissa, are you alright?"

"Rose, where are we?" The question hung heavy in the room.

"Portland," I answered simply.

She shook her head vehemently, rising from the table and gripping my arms. A glittering silver necklace, one I'd never seen before and surely one that wasn't her own taste, hung from her neck. More insistently this time, "No, Rose. _Where are we_?"

I considered her question, and thought, for once, the obvious would suffice. "We're in a dream, Lissa."

Her jaw quirked, and I noticed her eyes were unfocused. She had a concussion, to say the least "I was attacked."

Suddenly, everything felt eerie again. "I know… I'm doing everything I can to find you. Can you-can you remember anything?"

"Familiar. Their eyes… they seemed so familiar."

Frustrated, Lissa fiddled with the chain around her neck. I caught her hand, examining the pendent closely. It seemed so familiar, but I just couldn't place it. Until I could.

I awoke with a gasp.

The boys and I found ourselves, like countless times before, circled up around the table.

"To accuse a Moroi of something like that, let alone a Moroi of such high standing as Prince Dashkov is career suicide, Roza," Dimitri cautioned.

"Maybe to you," I reasoned. "But, bearing in mind that I was sent to Russia as a last ditch effort to ever even have one, Lissa is my charge. She comes first."

"Where is your proof?" Ivan pushed.

I paused, unsure of whether anyone would follow my loose tendrils of proof. "Natalie said that Lissa told her about the bond, right?"

They nodded, no recognition in their eyes.

"Lissa and I promised each other that, bar a good reason, we would never reveal that secret to anybody."

"Friendship pacts are hardly-"

I cut Alexei off. "Lissa would never break that promise, not with the pressure of all the threat she was receiving. Whoever took Lissa is the same person that's been threatening her all this time. They've been watching her since before we left, Dimitri. Years. Victor has been a family friend for as long and basically took over as her guardian after the accident. That's access.

"What's more, in my dream, Lissa was wearing a silver necklace. It wasn't hers, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it on Natalie before. In your class, Ivan, we talked about strong earth magic practitioners being able to charm silver in many different ways. A knock on the head might not be enough to keep Lissa out this long, but a sleeping charm could! And guess who practices earth?"

"Even so, Roza. A dream isn't enough proof to accuse a dying man of treason."

"I'm telling you, it wasn't a normal dream…" Silence overtook us. There had to be a missing link here. "In our tutoring classes, you guys said you've heard of Spirit users being able to walk in dreams, right?"

Ivan nodded, catching on to my insinuation. "Adrian Ivashkov, the great nephew of the Queen, brought it to our attention."

"So, somehow, in her forced dream state, Lissa triggered the power," I argued. "She said the eyes of her attackers looked familiar, and she's been spending a lot of time with Natalie and Victor since she returned. Surely, she's grown familiar with his guardians. What I just don't understand is why, of all people, the last man Lissa thought of as family would do this to her…"

"A dying man would do anything to live," Alexei whispered under his breath, inserting himself into the conversation. "Including-"

"Kidnapping a girl he's seen bring back the dead," we said in unison.

I slammed my hand down on the table, pushing myself out of my seat. "He thinks Lissa can heal his illness."

"Is that even possible?" I heard Ivan question.

"We don't know," I answered. "Lissa has never been able to control her power. It's taken big moments of tragic incidents, ie. her best friend dying in a car accident, for it to be brought out."

Dimitri cringed at my brazen talk of my previous death. "Why-"

It was Ivan who answered for him, "Prince Dashkov was next in line for the throne, everyone knew it. The Queen had basically picked him out for herself, no one would have ever challenged him for it. When he got sick, she pulled out her backing of his succession, she was looking at the Voda family next."

"Look," I started. "It doesn't matter to me if you guys don't back me up. You don't have to put your lives on the line, but mine is already all up in this mess. Please, just give me your phone."

I held my hand out to none of them in particular. With a sigh, Alexei deposited his cell into my hand. "What are you going to use it for?"

"Call someone who can help."

The phone had barely rung once before he picked up. "Alexei? How is Rose?"

"It's me, dad," I pressed, desperation bleeding into my voice. "I need your help."

My father easily stood at attention. "Kiz? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, not me," I reassured him, hearing a thankful gasp from the other side of the phone. "It's Lissa."

"Princess Dragomir? What-"

"She's been kidnapped, Dad. And before you ask, no it wasn't Strigoi. It was Victor Dashkov."

I expected protests from the other line, but my father was silent, weighing my words. He growled, "That dirty _piç. _I knew there was something I didn't like about him. What happened?"

"They were attacked in the middle of the night, open light, while they were shopping in Missoula. Lissa was taken and they brought Victor in to talk about the attack. He played all coy, but I know it's him, dad. Is there any way you can track him down? Any places he might be hiding her?"

I could hear movement rising around him. "Pull up everything you can find on Victor Dashkov," he ordered someone on his end. "I need properties surrounding St Vladimir's."

A soft answer responded, not a minute later.

"Keep searching. Check under his guardians. They're the perfect pseudonym, no one would expect him to own property."

"Nothing, Sir."

"That's not good enough," my father growled, as menacing as I'd ever heard him.

"Check under-" Ivan interrupted, thoughtful. "Well, this is a long shot, but check under Robert Dashkov."

"Genius, Ivan," my father praised.

I turned to Dimitri in confusion.

"Viktor's half-brother. He's, as far as we know, one of the world's most elusive Spirit users."

Now, that was something.

"We've got him, kız. The dirty bastard."

"What's the address?" Alexei asked, pen at the ready. He took it down, ever the supporter of my lead.

Ivan, beside him, picked up his phone, dialing Alberta.

"Thanks Dad."

"Call me when you find the bastard," he responded, hanging up the phone.

Alberta had barely gotten her own greeting out when I ripped the phone from Ivan's hand, intent to put myself on the line before them. "Alberta, you need to listen to me. Where is Victor?"

She huffed, obviously tired and exasperated "Well, he left when the meeting ajourned. His party is staying off campus, but he'll be back-"

I slammed my fist onto the table in frustration. He had an hour long head start on us. Ivan gave Dimitri a meaningful look, and I felt a hand enclose around my arm, gently leading me away as the Moroi brought the phone closer to himself.

I let Dimitri pull me outside. Shivering against the cold, he draped a coat around my shoulders. It did nothing to calm the terror sinking into me.

"Everything feels like it's been turned upside down, Dimitri," I whispered into the night. "I'm so lost without the bond."

Suddenly, I felt a jolt pull me away from myself. _Lissa was awake._


End file.
